Gerhard B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Gerhard B., who was born in Teplice, Czechoslovakia in 1924. He recalls attending Jewish and Czech schools; learning German; attending gymnasium in Duchcov; being sent with his sister to live with his grandparents in Krako?w in 1938; being joined by their parents in 1939; German invasion; substituting for his father for forced labor; their expulsion from Krako?w; moving to Niepo?omice; forced relocation to Wieliczka; his grandparents', parents', and sister's deportation (he never saw them again); digging mass graves for murdered Jews; transfer to Rzesz?ow; escaping to Krako?w in August 1942; finding no Poles would help him; a futile attempt to illegally enter Slovakia; volunteering in Rabka for labor in Germany, posing as a Pole; obtaining Polish papers; forced labor in Frankfurt an der Oder; traveling to Berlin and Nuremberg when Polish workers became suspicious; arrest and imprisonment; beatings which resulted in his permanent hearing loss; transfer to Flossenbu?rg, then Moosach and Allach in 1943; working in a BMW factory and as a translator; clandestinely helping Jews whose conditions were worse; liberation in April 1945 by United States troops; living in Prague; emigrating to Israel in 1948; marriage; and emigrating to the United States in 1957.
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., Gerhard, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- Bayerische Motoren Werke.
- Flossenbürg (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Mass killings.
- Child survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Escapes.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- False papers.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
Places
- Rabka (Województwo Małopolskie, Poland)
- Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Nuremberg (Germany)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Moosach (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Rzesźow (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Allach (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Teplice (Czech Republic)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Duchov (Czech Republic)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Niepołomice (Poland)
- Israel.
- Wieliczka (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat