Associated material: Vock, Philip. Interview 4926. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

This testimony is in French.

Videotape testimony of Philip V., who was born in France in 1929. He describes his assimilated family life and strong French identity; attending schools in Vaucresson and Neuilly; his father's death; German invasion in May 1940, fleeing with his family to Les Sables-d'Olonne; their return to Paris months later; fleeing to the unoccupied zone in 1941; living in Bagnères-de-Luchon; his Jewish education and identity formation by Mila Racine; hearing of rounds-up of Jews; fleeing to Italian-occupied Nice, then to Aix-les-Bains two months later in early 1943; denouncement in December 1943; his family negotiating who would be deported (they still had gold); their decision that he would be deported to Drancy, instead of his grandfather, with his mother, two uncles, and one aunt (another aunt and cousins remained); their deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau three weeks later; transfer with his uncles to Monowitz; a kapo taking his good shoes (his uncle was beaten trying to help him); slave labor; hospitalization; his uncles bringing him extra food; a privileged position when he recovered due to his uncles' intervention; evacuation in January 1945; a brief stay in Gleiwitz; transport in open freight cars to Buchenwald; Czechs throwing them food from overpasses; brief transfer to another camp, then back to Buchenwald; and liberation by United States troops.

Mr. V. recounts transfer to Erfurt; returning to Paris; assistance from the Red Cross; reunion with his mother and other relatives (one uncle did not return); brief French military service (he was released as a survivor); emigration to the United States; draft into the U.S. military; serving in Germany, then France; attending university on the G.I. bill; and returning to France. He discusses relations between prisoner groups in camps (national and political); his feelings about being chosen for deportation instead of his grandfather; recurring nightmares; and sharing his story with his children and other young people.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Personal narratives.

World War, 1939-1945 > Personal narratives, Jewish.

World War, 1939-1945 > Children.

Concentration camp inmates > Family relationships.

Concentration camps > Sociological aspects.

United States > Armed Forces > Europe.