John W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of John W., who was born in Mo?nchengladbach, Germany in 1920. He describes his assimilated family background; his bar mitzvah in 1933; disbelief anything would happen to them because his father was a World War I veteran; changes beginning in 1934; the Nuremberg laws; his brother's emigration to England in 1937; his parents' arranging to ship their possessions to the United States; obtaining passports; his father's arrest on Kristallnacht and incarceration in Dachau; and emigrating to the United States after his father's release in June 1940. Mr. W. discusses how appealing it seemed to belong to the Hitler Youth in the mid-1930s; his family's strong sense of German identity; and their growing sense of powerlessness as anti-Jewish measures increased.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- W., John, -- 1920-
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany.
- Nuremberg laws.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
Places
- Germany.
- MoĚnchengladbach (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat