Andre? R. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Andre? R., a twin, who was born in Lyon, France in 1924, one of four children. Mr. R. recounts his mother was Jewish and his father the child of a Jew and Christian; living in Paris; German occupation; being sent with his twin brother to live with a Christian family in Lyon in 1942; his parents and sisters joining them; his father's arrest in May 1943 for Resistance work (he never saw him again); his Resistance activities; arrest with his family in May 1944; incarceration in Montluc prison; transfer to Drancy in June; deportation in July to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from his mother and sisters (only one sister survived); transfer with his brother to Buna/Monowitz; slave labor outside the camp; local Poles giving them food; singing French songs to raise their spirits; brief hospitalization for surgery; a public hanging; a death march, with his brother, in January 1945 to Gleiwitz; traveling in open railcars to Buchenwald; contracting dysentery; liberation; hospitalization in Germany and Nancy; reunion with his sister; living in Paris; and he and his siblings marrying and having children immediately to start new lives. Mr. R. discusses relations between nationality groups in concentration camps; nightmares and obsessions resulting from his experiences; not discussing his experiences with his wife, children, or siblings; and his strong Jewish identity, despite lack of belief. He displays his paintings depicting his experiences and notes the therapeutic effects of having done them.

3 videocassettes