Tomáš L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Tomáš L., who was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1942. He recounts his mother's family history in Nové Zámky; his parents' marriage in Budapest in 1940 or 1941; his father's deportation in 1942 or 1943 (he has never learned what happened to him); hospitalization for an ear infection in spring 1944; his mother's visits; her disappearance; bombing of the hospital; surviving in a shelter with a nurse and a few other children; meager rations; his aunt finding him in August 1945; living with his mother's brother and his wife in Nové Zámky beginning in 1947; conversations about people returning fueling his notion that his parents would return; learning his mother had perished in Ravensbrück; hearing frequent conversations about his relatives' Holocaust experiences; reconstruction of the local synagogue; and antisemitism beginning in 1952. Mr. L. discusses the loss of his childhood and parents, for which no compensation is possible; playing the game "Holocaust" as a child after the war; and preparing to visit Ravensbrück several times, but not being able to bring himself to do so.

1 videocassette