Berman, Joseph

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

Joseph Berman who was born in 1921 in Poland. He describes immigration to Belgium in 1929; his childhood in a poor, Jewish district of Brussels; participating in Jewish, left-wing organizations including the Bund in Anderlecht; a tailor's apprenticeship; failed escape when Germany invaded; joining the Resistance; the role of the Association des Juifs de Belgique; forced labor in Dammes-Camiers; learning his mother and sisters had been deported; assistance from a driver in escaping with a friend; returning to his father and youngest sister in Brussels; obtaining false papers; working as a tailor; collecting information for the Resistance (Rote Kapelle); arrest on July 27, 1943; imprisonment in St. Gilles; and his registration as a Catholic by a helpful guard. Mr B. recounts improved conditions as a tailor; deportation to Esterwegen; harmonious relationships between prisoner groups (Freemasons, communists, and Catholics), which provided extra rations for youngsters; transfer to Ichtershausen prison in April 1944; evacuation to Pössneck; escape; hiding with non-Jews; liberation; first learning of mass exterminations while returning to Belgium; and reunion with his father and sister. He discusses many incidents in the Resistance, camps, and prisons and conveying to his sons his lack of Jewish identity.

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

Ressources

Fiche interview

Code interview : YA/FA/028
Date interview : 28/06/1993
Lieu interview : Centre Audiovisuel de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles
Durée interview : 4h57
Langue interview : Français
Interviewers : Yannis Thanassekos et Sarah Philips
Cameraman : Osric Colb
Consultation : Autorisée
Indexation thématique : oui
Séquençage interview : non