Herbert L. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2830
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Herbert L., who was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1917. He relates growing up in Vienna; working in Zli?n after graduating from the School of Electric Engineering; German invasion; eighteen months of slave labor; transfer to Terezi?n in March 1941; avoiding deportation by joining the Jewish police and designing furniture; his depression caused by observing the deprivations of the women and children, deportations, and typhus; artificial improvement of conditions during a Red Cross visit; and transfer to Auschwitz on October 3, 1944. Mr. L. describes witnessing a German guard killing a woman; selections; teaching his friends electrical skills in desperate attempts to be transferred from Auschwitz; transfer with his friends to Gleiwitz; helping his friend with extra food; working as a draftsman; relatively good conditions due to a humane lager commander; transfer to Gross- Rosen; escaping into the woods; hiding in a German village; returning to Prague via Breslau; draft into the Czechoslovakian army; learning his parents were killed in Belzec; and emigration to the United States in 1946. He discusses producing his own documentary about Auschwitz and his trips to Prague and Vienna in 1990.

Extent and Medium

2 videocassettes (betacam sp)

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

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.