Mennerem W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mennerem W., who was born in Paris in 1923 to Polish immigrants. He recalls his family's poverty; speaking Yiddish at home; lack of religious observance; attending French and Jewish schools; the absence of antisemitism; remaining in Paris with his mother and three sisters after German invasion; his father and brothers-in-law fleeing; participation in a Bund youth group; his mother joining his father in the unoccupied zone; joining his parents in Montauban; moving to Nice; meeting a friend who had been in Drancy; deciding not to register as Jews; planning an escape to Switzerland; illegally crossing the Swiss border with his brother and friends; their arrival in Zurich; internment as refugees in Girenbad; their transfer to a camp in Arisdorf; weekends spent in Basel; returning to France with his brother and friends in 1944; contacting the Armee? secre?te; joining the FTP; liberating Albertville; working for the Bund in Marseille, helping returning deportees; and returning to Paris to await his friends and family. Mr. W. notes that his parents, sisters, and their husbands were deported and killed.
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
- W., Mennerem, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Francs-tireurs et partisans de la Main d'œuvre immigrée de Paris.
- Allgemeyner Idisher arbayṭerbund in Liṭa, Poylen un Rusland.
- Armeé secrète (France)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Paris (France)
- France.
- Nice (France)
- Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne, France)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Girenbad (Switzerland)
- Albertville (France)
- Marseille (France)
- Basel (Switzerland)
- Arisdorf (Switzerland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat