Léo W. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Léo W., who was born in Kellersberg, Germany in 1923, the youngest of three children of Polish immigrants. He recounts his family's move to Liège when he was three months old; cordial relations with non-Jews; his father's death in 1936; apprenticing as a tailor immediately after, German invasion; fleeing with his mother, sister, and her children to Toulouse; remaining there with his mother for ten months; returning to Brussels; anti-Jewish restrictions; working in a factory, hoping to avoid deportation; deportation in August 1942 to Dannes-Camiers, being told three months service there would save his family; slave labor for Organization Todt; sadistic treatment by the guards; transport to Malines for a day in 1943; escaping from the train; walking to Tongeren; assistance from a local woman; returning to Liège for a day (his family were all in hiding); a non-Jew taking him to join his mother in hiding with non-Jews in Vaux-sous-Chèvremont; remaining indoors for two years despite having false papers; liberation by United States troops; marriage to a survivor; and the births of two children. Mr. W. notes his brother did not survive Auschwitz; continuing contact with the family that hid him and his mother; obtaining posthumous recognition of them by Yad Vashem (they had refused during their lifetimes); sharing his experiences with his children; and visiting Dannes-Camiers with his wife in the 1990s. He reads letters from school children with whom he has spoken about his experiences.

5 videocassettes