Ernest S. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Ernest S., who was born in Hildesheim, Germany, in 1925. Mr. S. recalls the gradual development of the Nazi ideology and program in Hildesheim; his public school education; the initial absence of anti-Semitic acts against his family; and the Nuremberg laws which partly influenced his parents' decision to emigrate. He relates his father's arrest in 1938 for attempting to send money out of the country; the killing of an uncle during Kristallnacht; the burning of the local synagogue; seizure of the Jewish-owned bank where his father worked; and his transfer to the local Jewish school. He recounts his father's trial and conviction; his release in October 1939; some neighbors' acts of kindness; his family's obtaining a U.S. visa in February 1940; their rail journey through Germany, occupied Poland, and the Soviet Union, to Harbin, Manchuria; their voyage on a Japanese cargo ship to Seattle, Washington; and their adjustment and integration in wartime America.

1 videocassette (3/4" u-matic)