Eric Wood-Holocaust Testimonies

Interview 1-Alfred Caro

Alfred Caro was born in 1911 in a town named Sampta. Sampta is a small town near Germany’s capital of Berlin. After living in Sampta for a few years, Caro, his parents, and his six siblings moved into Berlin. Caro grew up in Berlin and went to school there. The school that Caro went to for elementary school didn’t split up Jews and gentiles. Caro said that he had Jewish and non-Jewish friends. The only difference in classes between the two groups was that Jews had religious classes. Other than that, Caro said nobody treated him any different than the gentiles. Caro’s family was conservative and regularly attended synagogue early in his life. As the years went by though, the family went less and less. Caro’s dad owned a butcher store, which helped to support the family. Caro was a very active child and participated in boxing and track. All was well in life until 1933 when Hitler came into power. Soon after this occurred, Caro felt uneasiness building toward himself and other Jews. In 1937, Caro was gathered and sent to Sachsenhosen camp. While there, Caro worked and had a rough time. He felt that the number one way he survived, was luck. Caro spoke of times where officers would randomly pick out a few Jews and shoot them. After a long year, Caro was free in July of 1938. However, life did not go back to how it was before camp life. Things continued to worsen and were topped off on Kristallnacht. On “the night of broken glass”, many Jewish businesses had their stores broken into, including the family butcher shop. It was at this point that Caro determined that he had to leave. He moved to Colombia in South America, living there for 16 years. He established a butcher shop in honor of his father. After a few years living in other South American countries, he moved to the United States where his middle sister had escaped to.

“If you weren’t lucky, you were dead”
“Life was never the same after Sachsenhosen”



Interview 2-Henry Laurant

Henry Laurant was born in 1925 in the city of Koenigsberg. Koenigsberg was a city in the eastern portion of Prussia. Laurant grew up in an apartment with his parents and one sister. Laurant’s father was a pediatrician while his mother stayed home with the children. Henry and his sister shared a very close relationship at this time. Laurant had his first Anti-Semitic experience while in kindergarten. After school on his way home, a few kids insulted him because he was Jewish. Laurant was shocked that such young kids could have such hatred. Henry’s father told him that these things would pass over. Unfortunately for Henry, this was not the case. At the age of nine, Henry had to go to the hospital due to illness. Many kids were in the waiting room and after finding out Henry was a Jew, the room erupted with insults. At first doctors tried to calm the situation, but after realizing Henry was a Jew, they let it go. Later that year, Henry and his family moved to Berlin to help his father get more business. In 1938, Kristallnacht occurred and alarmed the family. The day after this event occurred, the family went into hiding down the road at a family friend’s house. Life was not the same as they had to sneak around whenever they had to go somewhere. Henry spoke of days when S.S. officers would march down the streets and require the citizens along the street to give the Hitler salute. Anybody who did not would be beat. Henry refused to give the salute so he would always hide when he heard the chants of the soldiers. A plan was soon hatched to get Henry out of the country. His parents and sister would not be coming along however, as his sister had schooling to finish. Henry spoke about a bad feeling he had that he would never see them again, but remained optimistic. At age 14, Henry obtained a passport and immigrated to England. He never saw his family again. In 1972, he was finally able to make it back to Berlin where he learned of his parents fate through old friends. As they tried to escape, they were captured and taken to Auschwitz, where it was determined that they died.

“When Jewish blood splashes from the knife, things go twice as well” (a chant the S.S. officers echoed as they went down the streets)
“After Kristallnacht, life was pure Hell”