Rafi B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rafi B., who was born in Cluj, Romania in 1920, the youngest of three children. He recounts his father's death when he was three; moving to Timis?oara; attending a Romanian school; speaking German, French, Hungarian, and Romanian; moving to Bratislava; active participation in Hashomer Hatzair beginning in 1933; working for his aunt as a photographer; being sent to Prague in 1938 by Hashomer Hatzair to organize there; his brother's emigration to London; working for Hechalutz and continuing as a photographer; changing his name to a non-Jewish one; obtaining false papers for himself and his mother (he lived with her); moving to Trenc?ianske? Teplice, then to Budapest to organize rescue networks and illegal emigration to Palestine; borrowing United States identity documents that he used for the duration of the war; his mother joining him in Budapest; his son's birth in July 1945; representing the Zionist organization of Hungary in London; obtaining false papers in Prague for illegal emigration to Palestine; living on a kibbutz; his appointments as Israeli ambassador to several countries; and returning to the kibbutz. Mr. B. discusses his strong Zionist commitment; always working as part of an organization during the war; and ease in posing as a non-Jew due to his appearance and not having been circumcised.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- B., Rafi, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- World Hashomer Hatzair.
- Hechalutz (Organization)
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Mothers and sons.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Romania.
- Trenčianské Teplice (Slovakia)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Timișoara (Romania)
- Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat