Herbert L. Holocaust testimony
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
People
- L., Herbert, -- 1917-
Corporate Bodies
- Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Friendship.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- Escapes.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Gleiwitz (Poland : Concentration camp)
- ZliĚn (Czech Republic)
- WrocĹaw (Poland)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Czech Republic.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat