Maurice B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Maurice B., who was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1939. He recounts his family observing the Sabbath and kashruth; feeling intimidated by German soldiers he saw from his window; his English grandmother living with them (his mother was born in England); their deportation to Westerbork in summer 1943; receiving food parcels; his father charging him to care for his mother, sister, and grandmother when he was deported (they never saw him again); surgery by an inmate physician when he was ill; his grandmother's toughness to the guards; transfer to Bergen-Belsen two months later; constant hunger; his mother giving birth to a baby girl who died from starvation within a year; taking death for granted; waiting for prisoners to die to get their bread; evacuation by train; liberation by Soviet troops; transport to Paris, then joining his aunt in England; and additional surgery. Mr. B. notes as a child never discussing his experiences; not identifying himself as a Jew until recently, thanks to his daughter; and sculpting helping him to "work out" his past.
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. This testimony can only be used for research. Any other use requires the written consent of the testimony donor or his heirs.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- B., Maurice, -- 1939-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Westerbork (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
- Mutual aid.
- Child survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Identification (Religion)
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Fathers and sons.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Mothers and sons.
- Grandparent and child.
Places
- Paris (France)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Netherlands.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat