Jean-Michel D. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Jean-Michel D., who was born in Oran, Algeria and raised in Belgium. He recalls his parents' divorce (his mother was Catholic); a close relationship with his grandfather; working in LieĚge; marriage; imprisonment for resistance; escaping; he and his wife being sent for forced labor in Nuremberg; her release after two weeks (she was ill); going on leave (he never returned); his wife's death in 1942; living underground in Paris; arrest while trying to escape to England; imprisonment in St. Gilles; suffering greatly in solitary confinement; clandestinely sending a message to his family; transfer to Dachau; a friend receiving extra food for "volunteering" for medical experiments; incredible solidarity and friendship among his Belgian group; hospitalization for typhus; receiving packages from home; liberation by United States troops; and repatriation. Mr. D. discusses never sharing his experiences with his family; fighting to receive benefits as a camp survivor (his forced labor in Germany counted against him); never believing he would survive Dachau; believing he and his fellow prisoners are permanently depressed as a result of their camp experiences; and visiting schools to share his experiences.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- D., Jean-Michel, -- 1921-
Corporate Bodies
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Belgian.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Escapes.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Husband and wife.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Human experimentation in medicine.
- Friendship.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Mutual aid.
- Hospitals in concentration camps.
Places
- Nuremberg (Germany)
- Algeria.
- Paris (France)
- LieĚge (Belgium)
- Oran (Algeria)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat