Norbert S. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3487
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Norbert S., who was born in Bad Homburg, Germany in 1927, one of two brothers. He recounts beatings by a Nazi teacher in 1933, resulting in his parents transferring him and his brother to a Jewish school in Frankfurt am Main; their move to Frankfurt in 1936; increasing anti-Jewish restrictions; his father and uncle being arrested and deported to Buchenwald on Kristallnacht; seeing the synagogue burning while the fire department stood idle; his father's release four weeks later due to his status as a World War I veteran and his pledge to leave Germany within six months; his father's departure on the St. Louis (he landed in Holland and emigrated to the United States); his bar mitzvah in 1940; receiving affidavits from his father; several unsuccessful attempts to emigrate; a German officer suggesting his mother bribe him for plane tickets from Munich; flying from Stuttgart to Lisbon via Lyon and Barcelona; assistance from HIAS; and emigration to the United States in 1941. Mr. S. notes the deaths of uncles, aunts and cousins in the Holocaust, and his grandson's interest in his and his father's experiences. He shows documents, photographs, and stones he retrieved from the sites of two Frankfurt synagogues burned on Kristallnacht.

Extent and Medium

1 videocassette

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

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.