François D. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of François D., a Catholic, who was born in Wespelaar, Belgium in 1920, one of four children. He recalls attending Catholic boarding school in Louvain; studying engineering in Mechelen; German invasion; fleeing to Dunkerque with his family; returning home three weeks later; his father liquidating his factory; working in Antwerp; making radios for the Resistance; arrest with his father and two brothers on March 3, 1944; incarceration in Breendonk; slave labor carrying stones; transfer to Buchenwald, then with one brother to Harzungen days later; hospitalization; slave labor in the garage and working on compressors; using his influence to have his brother join him; fights with Russian and Polish prisoners; transfer to Ellrich; his brother's injury and transfer to the hospital in Dora; assistance from a Belgian doctor; transfer to the hospital in Dora for a back injury; brief reunion with his brother, who was returned to Ellrich; praying with another prisoner; liberation by United States troops in April 1945; assistance from the Red Cross; repatriation; and learning his father and other brother were killed. Mr. D. discusses relations between national groups in the camps; never fully recovering from his injuries; active participation in political prisoner groups; and seldom sharing his experiences until recently.

4 videocassettes