Randolph J. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Randolph J., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1913. He recalls his family's affluence; strong patriotism and food shortages during World War I; being taught Germany had won; his bar mitzvah; attending public school and gymnasium; cordial relations with non-Jews; gradual impoverishment as antisemitism increased in the 1930s; one sister's emigration to the United States; meeting his future wife; attending university in 1931; violent harassment; believing Hitler was a temporary phenomenon; traveling to Zurich in 1933 to continue his education, then to Paris via Geneva, Lyon, and Dijon; support from the Joint; reunion with his future wife; attending his mother's funeral in 1934; encountering Jews who still believed it was safe in Germany; earning a degree in economics; working as a journalist; applying for French citizenship in 1938; war's outbreak in 1939; forced relocation as an enemy alien; volunteering for the French military; serving in Orleans and Brittany; German invasion; smuggling to the unoccupied zone with a friend; and assistance from French farmers.
Extent and Medium
6 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. This testimony cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- J., Randolph, -- 1913-
Corporate Bodies
- Great Britain. -- Army. -- British Expeditionary Force.
- Miranda de Ebro (Concentration camp)
- World Jewish Congress.
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Subjects
- Husband and wife.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- Italian occupation.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Noncitizens -- Evacuation and relocation.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Spanish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, French.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, British.
Places
- Paris (France)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Germany.
- Dijon (France)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Szczecin (Poland)
- Oxford (England)
- Poole (Dorset, England)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Zaragoza (Spain)
- LeĚrida (Spain)
- Sort (Spain)
- Marseille (France)
- Mane (France)
- Toulouse (France)
- OrleĚans (France)
- Brittany (France)
- Lyon (France)
- Geneva (Switzerland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat