Kurt B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Kurt B., who was born in Cologne, Germany in 1923. He recalls antisemitic incidents in public school in 1935; transferring to a Jewish school; assistance from his father's business partner; loss of the family business after Kristallnacht; forced relocation to Mu?lheim; arrest of his father and brother in 1939 (he never saw them again); his mother's deportation (he never saw her again); moving to Berlin and Frankfurt posing as a non-Jew with false papers; arrest in Leipzig; transfer to Klingelpuetz prison; forced labor in Koeln/Deutz; deportation to Auschwitz; finding strength in observing Jewish holidays and praying with other prisoners; enduring beatings and sadistic punishments; sharing food with a friend; public hangings; a death march during which his friend was killed; transport to Dachau, then Waldlager; railroad work; and liberation from a train by United States troops. Mr. B. describes recuperating with assistance from a German doctor; returning to Cologne; living in Feldafing; and emigrating to the United States in 1947 with assistance from HIAS. He discusses the importance of his acceptance by the religious Jews in Auschwitz; pride in being Jewish; and recurring nightmares.

2 videocassettes