Weinstein, Wolf (Willy)

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

Wolf Weinsteinwas born in Cairo, Egypt in 1921. He recalls attending French school; speaking Yiddish at home; living in several European cities from 1929 to 1931; settling in Antwerp; antisemitism in school; apprenticing as a diamond cutter; German invasion; fleeing to Ghent, then Saint-Vincent; living with French farmers; his parents' internment in Récébédou in spring 1942; visiting them; arrest; imprisonment in Caussade, whose police chief had tried to warn him to hide; internment in Septfonds, then Drancy; deportation to Janislawice (Johannisdorf); singing Yiddish songs with Polish prisoners; Jewish prisoners fasting on Yom Kippur; transfer to Blechhammer; receiving help from British POWs; smuggling food from his work detail, which was outside the camp; sadistic public hangings; receiving one package from his mother; Karl Demerer's (the Jewish head) efforts to help inmates; the death march to Gross-Rosen in January 1945; evacuation to Buchenwald; another death march; transfer to Oranienburg; hiding during the evacuation; liberation by Polish troops; transfer to an American displaced persons camp; repatriation to Brussels; and reunion with his mother. Mr W. insightfully discusses intergroup relationships in the camps; efforts to raise morale; and paralysis of body and spirit resulting from humiliation.

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

Ressources

Fiche interview

Code interview : YA/FA/017
Date interview : 14/10/1992
Lieu interview : Centre Audiovisuel de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles
Durée interview : 4h45
Langue interview : Français
Interviewers : Jean-Michel Chaumont, Claire Paulus et Rina Margos
Cameraman : Olivier Van Wassenhove
Consultation : Autorisée
Indexation thématique : oui
Séquençage interview : non