Victor Z. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Victor Z., who was born in Paris, France in 1926. He recounts his parents' eastern European origins; his father's communist activities; participation in a communist youth group; antisemitic harassment in school; his sister's birth in 1938; leaving school at thirteen to work; his father's military draft in 1939; German invasion; evacuation to Saint-Saturnin in June 1940; joining relatives in Les Sièges; returning home; his father's return; joining a communist resistance group; organizing demonstrations; his father's arrest and internment in Drancy on August 20, 1941; receiving letters from him; distributing pamphlets for the Resistance; joining FTP-MOI in 1942; learning his father had been deported (he never saw him again); arrest for attacking a Jewish collaborator; release; hiding with friends; obtaining false papers; assistance from non-Jews; obtaining false papers for his mother; ceasing Resistance activities; liberation in August 1944; joining the French army; demobilization in 1945; marriage; and eventually renouncing communism. Mr. Z. notes his sister was hidden by non-Jews; many Resistance colleagues, including Henri Krasucki and Marcel Rayman; and identifying himself as French, not Jewish, until about ten years ago. He shows documents and photographs.
Extent and Medium
3 videocassettes
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
- Krasucki, Henri.
- Z., Victor, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- Rayman, Marcel -- (1923-1944)
- Francs-tireurs et partisans de la Main d'œuvre immigrée de Paris.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Resistance.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Child survivors.
- Identification (Religion)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, French.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- France.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
Places
- Les Sièges (France)
- Paris (France)
- Saint-Saturnin (France)
- France.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat