Siegfried H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Siegfried H., who was born in Germany in 1910. He recounts his father had one Jewish grandparent; his father's career as an Evangelical-Lutheran pastor; living in Berlin from 1917; being asked to leave a Christian religion class due to his "Jewish" last name; learning then he had Jewish ancestors and relatives; yearly visits from Jewish cousins; studying law from 1929; being ineligible to take final exams in 1933 due to his Jewish ancestry; his father's removal from his position by the church which led to his collapse and death; his brother's emigration to Denmark in 1935; receiving his doctorate in 1936; his fiancée's parents objecting to their marriage, resulting in estrangement; draft into the Wehrmacht in November 1939; marriage; accompanying his Jewish "aunt" to a deportation train; his son's birth in 1944; capture by United States troops in January 1945; and spending the remainder of the war in a POW camp in Plauen. Mr. H. discusses changing his name to a German one so his children would not suffer as he had; ongoing antisemitism in Germany; his career in government and teaching; participation in the German Red Cross; and writing about respect for all.
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
- H., Siegfried, -- 1910-
Corporate Bodies
- Deutsches Rotes Kreuz.
Subjects
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, German.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, German.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Prisoners of war -- Germany.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Nuremberg laws.
Places
- Germany.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Plauen (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat