Serge L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Serge L., who was born in Skierniewice, Poland in 1922. He recounts his family's communist background; antisemitic incidents; emigrating to Paris in 1936; the outbreak of war in 1939; enlistment in the army (he was not mobilized); resistance activities; deportation with his brother to Beaune-la-Rolande on May 14, 1941; escaping to Paris with assistance from a French woman; voluntarily returning to Beaune-la-Rolande to protect his father; deportation to Auschwitz on June 28, 1942; building the I.G. Farben Buna factory in Monowitz; assistance from a Polish doctor in the hospital; transfer to Budy; eleven days in the punishment block (No. 11) of Auschwitz; work in the SS laundry; and arranging his transfer to Warsaw in October 1943 to avoid punishment. Mr. L. describes the camp; helping ghetto survivors; public hangings; forced march from Sochaczew to ?owicz and Kutno in August 1944; a mass killing near the Bzura river; forced labor in Dachau; German guards fleeing during the evacuation in April 1945; liberation by United States troops; and reunion with his parents in Paris. He discusses the importance of the camp underground to his survival; self-organization of the prisoners; the impact of learning about the Warsaw ghetto revolt; the importance of luck; nightmares; sharing experiences with his children; and legal discrimination against Jewish deportees.

3 videocassettes