Decleve, Bernard

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Description de l'interview extraite du site US Fortunoff / Biographie à venir

Bernard Decleve was born in Gerponville, France in 1915. He recounts moving to Belgium when he was five; a Jesuit education; becoming a textile engineer; marriage; the births of three children; military service in 1937; remobilization immediately prior to German invasion; returning home; Resistance activities in Brussels; denunciation; surrendering when his wife was threatened with arrest; beatings during interrogations in St. Gilles; transfer to Bochum; slave labor; punishment for sabotaging the work; transfer to Esterwegen; slave labor sorting cartridges; a sham trial in January 1944 in Essen; designation as a "Nacht und Nebel" prisoner; transfer to Sachsenhausen; slave labor; public executions; Allied bombings; hospitalization; assistance from a Belgian doctor; transfer to Natzweiler-Struthof; drinking his own urine en route; transfer to Dachau, then Mauthausen; slave labor in a quarry; transfer to Gusen; resisting a kapo's homosexual advances; slave labor in an airplane factory; sabotaging the work; liberation by United States troops in April 1945; recovering in Linz; repatriation to Tournai via Reims; and reunion with his family. Mr. D. notes a beating for reading the Bible; observing Jews receiving more severe treatment; his children helping him become “normal” after the war, despite nightmares and psychological issues; and reluctance to share some of his memories, even with his children.

(Copyright : Fortunoff Video Archives for Holocaust Testimonies – Yale)

Ressources

Fiche interview

Code interview : YA/FA/036
Date interview : 26/01/1994
Lieu interview : Centre Audiovisuel de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles
Durée interview : 4h20
Langue interview : Français
Interviewers : Elisabeth Inchusta et Judith Feit
Cameraman : Osric Colb
Consultation : Autorisée
Indexation thématique : Oui
Séquençage interview : Oui