Henri S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2542) [videorecording] / interviewed by Joni-Sue Blinderman, February 24, 1993.

New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1993.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 53 min.) : col.

English

Associated material: Samson, Henri. Interview 21641. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

Videotape testimony of Henri S., who was born in Aurich, Germany, the younger of two children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; moving to Norden around 1935; attending a Jewish school; anti-Jewish restrictions; his father's deportation to Buchenwald and his grandfather's arrest on Kristallnacht; their release; smuggling themselves to Brussels via Aachen; German invasion in 1940; hiding with non-Jews during round-ups; his parents contacting the underground to hide him and his sister; placement with a farmer in Grendel; hearing from his sister through a priest (he did not know where she was); each of his parents visiting once; learning they had been deported (he never saw them again); working on the farm; being moved when exposure was threatened; a farmer in Post hiding him, other Jews, and escaped Soviet POWs; bombings during the Battle of the Bulge; arrival of United States troops; hiding when the Germans returned; liberation; living with a non-Jewish family in Arlon; contact with his sister; moving to Brussels; placement in orphanages; a group bar mitzvah with other boys whose bar mitzvahs had not occurred because they were in hiding; his sister's marriage; emigrating in 1947 to join an uncle in the United States; military service; becoming a watchmaker; marriage; and the births of two daughters. Mr. S. discusses the Belgian effort to help Jews, particularly children, and attending a Hidden Children conference.

June 01, 2002

Henri S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2542). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Henri S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2542). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)