Gerd E. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Gerd E., who was born in Berlin in 1922. He describes his wealthy and prominent family; attending public school, then the elite French gymnasium; hardships resulting from the Nuremberg laws. including his expulsion from school in 1938; attending a Jewish school; synagogue burnings and his father's arrest on Kristallnacht; his release six weeks later, a weak and broken man; completing his qualifying exam (arbitur) in 1940; an apprenticeship leading to a factory job; hiding money and valuables with non-Jewish friends; his father's death; four weeks of forced labor in Wuhlheide in the summer of 1941; realizing death was inevitable in such a camp; warning his friends against transports; preparing to hide; and his mother's and sister's deportation in 1942 (he never saw them again). He describes life "underground"; acquiring false papers; associating with members of the Baum group; a confrontation with Stella Goldschlag, a known Jewish informer; escaping to Switzerland with assistance from a German woman; studying in Geneva; and emigrating to the United States in 1949. Mr. E. details many experiences in hiding and emphasizes the importance of luck and nerve to his survival.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- E., Gerd, -- 1922-
- Goldschlag, Stella.
Subjects
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Baum Gruppe.
- False papers.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Escapes.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany
- Jews -- Germany -- Social conditions.
- Nuremberg laws.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Germany.
- Anti-Nazi movement.
Places
- Berlin (Germany)
- Switzerland.
- Germany.
- Wuhlheide (Berlin, Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat