Harry D. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Harry D., who was born in Ri?ga, Latvia in 1928. He recalls a comfortable life as the only child of two members of the intelligentsia (his father was a concert pianist and music teacher); attending Jewish schools; drastic changes after Soviet occupation; German occupation in 1941; Latvian anti-Jewish violence; ghettoization; his grandfather's disappearance during a round-up; and taking his mother's advice to say he was older in order to accompany his father (he never saw her again). Mr. D. describes work in an SS hospital; arrival of German Jews; execution of Jewish police for planning a revolt; evacuation to Kaiserwald; transfer with his father to a satellite camp; improved conditions; return to Kaiserwald in the spring of 1944; transfer to Stutthof, then one week later to Buchenwald; sleeping in the woods due to overcrowding; transfer to Zeitz; Allied bombings; arrival of Hungarian Jews; deteriorating conditions; return to Buchenwald in January 1945; liberation; learning his father was dead; recuperation in Switzerland; and emigration to the United States in 1947. He discusses the inhumane conditions at twice daily roll calls and his reluctance to tell of his experience for many years.

2 videocassettes