Charles S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Charles S., who was born in 1917 and served in the military police of the British army during World War II. He recounts the Normandy landing, moving through Belgium and Holland, and entering Germany; volunteering to enter Bergen-Belsen; observing thousands of bodies and prisoners wandering aimlessly; assisting to organize burial of the dead, whose decomposing bodies could be smelled over a mile away; compelling local Germans to assist; convincing survivors he was Jewish by speaking Yiddish with them; moving everyone to a nearby tank training facility; burning the concentration camp to prevent the spread of disease; assisting in the arrest of Irma Grese by finding survivors who had witnessed her crimes; taking items of murdered prisoners from storage as souvenirs; the British rabbi organizing services for Shavuot; and returning home in the fall. Mr. S. shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony can only be viewed at Yale by Yale faculty and/or students.
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. This testimony or excerpts from it cannot be used for publication.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- Grese, Irma, -- 1923-1945.
- S., Charles, -- 1917-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, British.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, British.
- Liberator.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- Postwar experiences.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat