Julius S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Julius S., who was born in Djursholm, Sweden in 1942 to refugees from Nazi Germany. He recounts placement with Swedish farmers, like many Jewish children, fearing German invasion; few memories prior to traveling to Erlangen, Germany in 1948 to join his father (his parents were divorced); his father's strong German identity; his position at the university; weekly Jewish instruction in Nuremberg; his bar mitzvah; attending boarding school in Berchtesgaden with many children of high-ranking Nazis, including Hess; attending university in Berlin and earning his Ph.D.; developing his interest in German-Jewish relations; teaching at a university in Duisberg for twenty-two years; founding the Solomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut für Deutsch-Jüdische Geschichte; moving to a university at Potsdam to establish the Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien; and assisting in establishing the Jewish Museum in Vienna. Mr. S. discusses his parents' German family histories; his father's academic career and disappointment near his life's end that Germany did not change; a letter his father wrote to him at his birth which he read at his bar mitzvah; German-Jewish relations; how Germany and Germans deal with their Nazi and communist pasts; the influence of the mass media; German lack of remorse; and his own cynicism.
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
- Schoeps, Hans Joachim.
- S., Julius, -- 1942-
Corporate Bodies
- Moses Mendelssohn-Zentrum für Europäisch-Jüdische Studien.
- Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut für Deutsch-Jüdische Geschichte.
- Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien.
Subjects
- National socialism -- Germany.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Children of war criminals -- Germany.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Public opinion.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Identification (Religion)
- Antisemitism -- Germany -- History.
- Public opinion -- Germany.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
Places
- Potsdam (Germany)
- Duisburg (Germany)
- Nuremberg (Germany)
- Erlangen (Germany)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Berchtesgaden (Germany)
- Germany -- Ethnic relations.
- Sweden.
- Djursholm (Sweden)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat