Alexander E. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3776
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Alexander E., who was born in Łódź, Poland, in 1928, an only child. He recounts his family's affluence; attending a Jewish private school; grand celebrations of Jewish holidays at his maternal grandparents' home; German invasion; his father's brief flight east; ghettoization; his grandfather's non-Jewish former employee bringing them food; his father's privileged position managing meat distribution; studying with a private tutor; he and his mother working in a factory; his extended family of ten hiding during a round-up; his grandfather's death; fear of frequent transports; deportation with his family to Auschwitz in August 1944, where he was "broken"; separation with his father from their family; transfer with his father two weeks later to Braunschweig; slave labor in a Büssing tire factory; a German supervisor leaving them extra bread; fear and starvation dominating their lives; a forced march to Watenstedt; his father's death; train transfer to Ravensbrück; receiving Red Cross packages; believing for the first time that he might survive; transfer two days later to Ludwigslust; liberation by United States troops; hospitalization; traveling to Łódź; reunion with a cousin; living on a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz, then another in Peterswaldau (Pieszyce); traveling with Beriḥah to Vienna via Prague in 1946; assistance from UNRRA and the Joint; illegal emigration via Italy to Palestine in 1947; incarceration by the British in Cyprus; serving in the Arab-Israel war; marriage; and the births of his children. Mr. E. discusses his depression and nightmares; hiding his trauma until the Eichmann trial brought it to the surface; hospitalization and treatment helping him manage his fears; and the impossibility for someone who did not experience it to understand Holocaust survivors.

Extent and Medium

9 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

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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.