Testimony of Walter Brauner

Walter Brauner (originally Bräuner) was born in June 1922 in Brno. His mother Berta, née Eger, was first married to Bräuner, later to Heřman. Walter grew up with his brother and sister, and later had two more siblings. The family was very poor, they could not afford to buy even pencils for school. Walter soon became involved in trying to support the family, apprenticed as a salesman in a textile store, and also worked as a night projectionist for films. After the occupation, he was put to forced labor and later deported to the Lípa Jewish labor camp. Although he had arranged to emigrate to Palestine, someone else, probably for a bribe, travelled on his papers and Walter remained in Brno.

He was deported on the first mass transport from Brno. Thanks to his youth and the experience of a poor childhood, he adapted to the terrible conditions of the Minsk ghetto quite quickly. He was used to very hard work and constant hunger. He escaped the mass murder and liquidation of the ghetto, was deported to the forced labour camps in Budzyn, Mielec and Wieliczka, survived the death camp in Majdanek, and was liberated on the death march from Flossenbürg to Mauthausen.

He returned briefly to Czechoslovakia, working in Pilsen as an interpreter for the American army. In one of the emergency camps set up by the Americans for Jewish survivors, he met his future wife, who feared forcible repatriation to Poland, demanded by the Soviet Army on the Czechoslovak government. Together, they crossed the border into the American occupation zone in Germany and wondered how and where to start a new life. They lived in the Netherlands, in Israel, in Montreal, Canada, and finally settled in the United States.

The interview was recorded on January 16, 1996 in Valley Village, California, U.S.A.