Henri K. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Henri K., who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1926. He recounts his parents' and their siblings' emigration from Poland during World War I; speaking Yiddish at home; a priest espousing antisemitic ideas during religious instruction in public school; German invasion; fleeing with his family to Revelles, France; after three months, round-up with other non-citizens in Cape la Hague for six months; internment in Rivesaltes; release in February 1942 due to his Parisian aunt's bribes; returning from Vierzon to Brussels, using false papers; his sister's deportation (he never saw her again); deportation with his parents and other sister to Malines in September; separation from his mother and sister at Cosel (he never saw them again), en route to Sakrau; slave labor building roads; friendship with three prisoners, who remain friends to the present; arguments between religious Jews maintaining fasts and socialists; transfer to Kleinmangersdorf; prisoners killing two vicious kapos; transfer to Tarnowitz; injuries from which he still suffers; separation from his father upon transfer to Annaberg, Szopienice, then Blechhammer; reunion with his father; public hangings; Allied bombardments; a death march in January 1945 to Gross-Rosen; transfer to Buchenwald; his father's death; liberation by United States troops; prisoners killing Ukrainian guards; repatriation with Red Cross assistance; hospitalization for tuberculosis; earning a diploma in art; and marriage in 1949. Mr. K. discusses learning of his father's past in the camps; his father's sacrifices to keep him alive; the importance to survival of maintaining morale; humor in the camps; inter-group relations; and not talking about his experiences for many years due to the pain it caused him.

6 videocassettes