Aron S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Aron S., who was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1928. He describes his parents' backgrounds; his father's decision not to return to Germany from a business trip abroad when Hitler came to power in 1933; traveling with his mother, brother, and sister to Antwerp to join his father; a happy period in Antwerp; German invasion in 1940; fleeing with his family to Brussels, then to France; returning to Antwerp after unsuccessful attempts to find his father whom they lost along the way; his father's return; hiding in Brussels to avoid deportation; fleeing to Paris; and being smuggled to Dijon in unoccupied France. Mr. S. describes obtaining false papers from a priest in Lyon; his bar mitzvah in September 1941; acquiring United States visas through Rabbi Stephen Wise due to his father's Zionist connections; an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Spanish border on December 7, 1941; traveling with his family to Marseille; a difficult journey to Tunis; incarceration in a labor camp outside of Casablanca; their release due to their forged Uruguayan visas; traveling by boat to Portugal; and emigration to the United States.
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
- S., Aron, -- 1928-
Subjects
- Child survivors.
- Bar mitzvah.
- False papers.
- Hiding.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Tunis (Tunisia)
- Dijon (France)
- France.
- Portugal.
- Paris (France)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Marseille (France)
- Lyon (France)
- Germany.
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat