Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library; Interviews am 23. Januar 1996 und am 30. Januar 1996

Videotape testimony of Simon G., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1923, one of six children. He recounts his family's move to Paris, German invasion, arrest and incarceration in Drancy in October 1941, deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau via Compiègne in March 1942, receiving refreshments en route from the Red Cross, slave labor constructing roads, transfer to a position supervising the kitchens, a privileged position, sharing extra food with friends, recovering from typhus with assistance from friends, transfer to a disciplinary Kommando, assistance from kapos in avoiding selection and being reassigned, smuggling goods with others from Canada Kommando, transfer to Stutthof in October 1944, then to Hailfingen in January, assignment to the kitchen, obtaining supplies locally, harassment by local children, assisting a captured escapee, Allied bombings, transfer to Dautmergen, then Schömberg, escaping with others from a forced march in April, liberation by French troops, repatriation to Strasbourg then to Hotel Lutetia in Paris via Mulhouse, recuperating in a rest home, reunion with his father, reclaiming his family's apartment, helping to organize Amicale d'Auschwitz, and marriage to a survivor. Mr. G. discusses his influence in Auschwitz/Birkenau due to his position, never feeling fear despite frequent beatings and witnessing many killings, relations between prisoner groups, assisting many prisoners, friendships formed in the camps and continuing contact with each other, and his children's interest in his experiences. He names many friends, among them Karol P., Henri B., and Jack K., and shares stories of them during and after the war. He shows photographs.