Alfons G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Alfons G., an only child, who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1924. He recalls his family's affluence; attending public school; expulsion in 1935; attending a Jewish school; his father's death in 1936; Kristallnacht; his mother purchasing passage to Shanghai the next day for six months hence; non-Jewish friends helping them move assets out of Germany; departure from Genoa in May; assistance from HIAS and the Joint (their representative was Laura Margolies); living in the international settlement; meeting Horace Kadoorie to obtain admission to the school he sponsored; Japanese occupation; ghettoization in Hongkew; attending an ORT school; starvation and diseases; occasional jobs through ORT; the importance to their survival of their dwindling monies; an Allied bombing in which Jews were killed and injured; liberation by United States troops; working for the Joint; emigration to the United States in 1947; struggling financially; and marriage to an American in 1956. Mr. G. notes they did not know of events in Europe after they left and that most of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust. He shows photographs from a publication.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- G., Alfons, -- 1924-
- Margolies, Laura.
- Kadoorie, Horace.
Corporate Bodies
- World ORT Union.
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- HIAS (Agency)
Subjects
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Jews -- China -- Shanghai.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Child survivors.
- Mothers and sons.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Berlin (Germany)
- Germany.
- Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
- Hongkew ghetto (Shanghai, China)
- Genoa (Italy)
- Shanghai (China)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat