Herman F. Holocaust testimony (HVT-373) [videorecording] / interviewed by Sally Weinberg, August 6, 1984.

Cleveland, Ohio : National Council of Jewish Women, Holocaust Archive Project, 1984.

1 videorecording (2 hr., 48 min.) : col.

English

Associated material: Frank, Herman. Interview 12628. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

Videotape testimony of Herman F., who was born in Łódź, Poland in approximately 1925, the only child of a wealthy family. He recounts attending private school; antisemitic harassment; his father's death in 1939; German invasion; his mother's efforts to hide their assets (gold, diamonds, etc.) in clothing and on their bodies; ghettoization; attending school until it closed; working in offices; his mother's selection for deportation (she bribed her way out); her death; deportation to Auschwitz in 1944; transfer to Gleiwitz several days later; slave labor digging ditches; briefly escaping from a death march with three others; transfer to Gross-Rosen; a German prisoner official offering him easier work for sexual favors; refusing, resulting in assignment moving bodies of prisoners who committed suicide; transport five days later to Buchenwald; beatings by Soviet POWs; transfer to Berga; assistance from friends when he was injured; escaping with friends from a death march; hiding; arrest; convincing officials they were Polish workers; obtaining papers as such; working on local farms; traveling to Spiegelau when the war ended; marriage to a survivor; his son's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. F. attributes his survival to his never losing hope due to his young age and to being alone, thus focusing only on himself. He discusses recurring nightmares.

June 01, 2002

Herman F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-373). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Herman F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-373). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)