Henri B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Henri B., who was born in Paris, France in 1927, one of nine children. He recalls their evacuation to Maine-et-Loire in August 1939; their conversion to Catholicism; his strong Catholic faith; arrest with his mother and older siblings on July 15, 1942; internment in Angers; his mother's release and father's arrival; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau with his father and brother; assignment to the masonry school; slave labor doing construction; learning his father and brother had been killed; remaining with French friends; hiding injuries during selections; transport to Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen, then Ohrdruf; once bringing corpses to Buchenwald; sharing extra food with his friends; escaping with assistance from a Hungarian guard, French POW, and German butcher; liberation by United States troops in April 1945; transfer to Eisenbach; repatriation with POWs; reunion with his family in Paris; their reluctance to ask him about his experiences; recovering from tuberculosis; attending medical school; a daughter's birth; marriage; and his other daughters' births. Mr. B. discusses camp life including intergroup relations and friends who aided his survival; losing his belief in Catholicism and identifying himself as a Jew after returning; sharing his experiences with his daughters; reluctance to share memories of suffering with non-survivors; and showing Ohrdruf to Generals Patton and Bradley.
Extent and Medium
5 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
- Bradley, Omar Nelson, -- 1893-1981.
- B., Henri, -- 1927-
- Patton, George S. -- (George Smith), -- 1885-1945.
Corporate Bodies
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Oranienburg (Concentration camp)
- Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp)
- Ohrdruf (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Christian converts from Judaism.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Friendship.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Fathers and sons.
- Prisoners of war -- Germany.
- Faith.
- Forced labor.
- Brothers.
- False papers.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Identification (Religion)
- Child survivors.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Escapes.
Places
- Angers (France)
- Maine-et-Loire (France)
- Paris (France)
- France.
- Eisenbach (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat