{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/028pc2v981/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Peter D."]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/005/original/Fortunoff-Logo.png?1549333634","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003ePeter D. was born on October 21st, 1922 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His parents had met in 1912, and his father came from a Ladino family and worked as a drama advisor at the German Theater in Prague. His Jewish mother was a seamstress and designed costumes for the theater. Peter spent his childhood going between the Catholic and Jewish parts of his family. Artists and writers often socialized in their home and Peter became a passionate reader. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe first attended the German school in Brno, as his father was engaged there in the theater, and then later attended a German high school. Even prior to the Munich Agreement, he remembers tensions with teachers and classmates, who increasingly identified with their being German and with Nazism, but he switched over to a Czech school before he could be discriminated against because of his Jewish background. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHis parents' marriage fell apart in 1934. His mother's second marriage was to a Jewish doctor, who was a staunch socialist. Peter witnessed not only the change in the political climate in his country, but also had, through his stepfather, participation in a left-wing political discourse. When Czechoslovakia mobilized against the Third Reich, Peter registered with the reserves. He was still too young to become a soldier in the war, but he was proud of his country and wanted to do something to protect it. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFurther political developments, however, very quickly smashed any hope for the survival of Czechoslovakia. Peter soon found it impossible to study Latin vocabulary while his country was falling apart. He left school and wandered aimlessly through the streets of Prague, until he was seized in 1940 by the employment office and sent asa foreign worker to Siemens in Berlin. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePeter did not initially experience the exclusion of the Jews directly, but rather via his circle of friends and his Jewish family. His father helped, through a false front, to secure the residence of Peter's mother and grandmother in their homes. The departure to Berlin made it possible for Peter, as a Jew, to temporarily disappear from the scene. He worked at Siemens in administration, had contacts with other foreign workers, received a wage and could move freely in the city.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1941, when the situation of the Jews in Prague dramatically worsened, he was asked by his father to return. His mother and grandmother were now forced to wear the Yellow Star. Through his presence in Prague, Peter was supposed to secure the apartment for his mother and grandmother for as long as possible. His father got him a job in a bookstore. Peter remembers how more and more people disappeared from his environment and were deported. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, he had to accompany his mother to the collection point. His father had, through the Czech police, contact with both women after they had been deported to Theresienstadt Ghetto (Terezin). They learned of the death of Peter's grandmother six weeks later and of the death of his mother a year later. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eUntil 1944, Peter tried, despite these threatening developments, to lead a normal life. He loved jazz, the cinema, and was interested in girls. He made the description of the schizophrenic life he then led bearable by employing a lot of irony during the interview.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the fall of 1944, he was deported as a so-called “half-Jew” to a forced labor camp in Silesia. After the prisoners had assembled a prefabricated barracks for themselves, they had to work splitting stones in a quarry. The gravel thus obtained was used to expand a nearby airstrip. A short time later, Peter was arrested by the Gestapo and taken via Breslau (Wrocław) back to Prague. He was accused of illegal dealings and was suspected of having been in contact with a resistance group.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn his transport from prison to prison, he was subjected to harassment and brutal interrogation methods by the SS. Since they could not prove anything against him, he was finally sent to a forced labor camp run by the Organization Todt in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), where he had to cut down trees. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTowards the end of the war, the forced labor camp was liquidated, and after several adventures, Peter finally managed to reach Prague in May 1945. In 1948, he earned a PhD from the University of Prague. In 1949, he went with his then-girlfriend and future first wife Hannah illegally over the border into Germany. In 1952, the couple immigrated to the United States, where Peter earned a second doctorate in American literature. He has two daughters. Peter D. was a professor of comparative literature at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books and writes regular reviews to this day in the German press. At the time of the interview, he had completed work on a book that reflects the history of Prague together with his own life story.\u003c/p\u003e (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za573"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["D., Peter, 1922-10-21 (Interviewee)","Laub, Dori, 1937-06-08 - 2018-06-23 (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["3 videotapes"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Oral histories (document genres) (genre_form)","forced labor (topical)","Video tapes (topical)","Oppeln Jail (Person or Corporate Body)","Prague-Pankratz Gestapo Prison (Person or Corporate Body)","Kelch Internment Camp for Jews and so-called \"Jewish Mixed-Race\" (Person or Corporate Body)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["New Haven, Conn. (Place of Recording)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Relation"]},"value":{"en":["Peter D. .Interview za573. Interview Archive „Forced Labor 1939-1945“. Access at https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za573 (conforms to)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["za573 (Source Identifier)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003ePeter D. was born on October 21st, 1922 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His parents had met in 1912, and his father came from a Ladino family and worked as a drama advisor at the German Theater in Prague. His Jewish mother was a seamstress and designed costumes for the theater. Peter spent his childhood going between the Catholic and Jewish parts of his family. Artists and writers often socialized in their home and Peter became a passionate reader.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe first attended the German school in Brno, as his father was engaged there in the theater, and then later attended a German high school. Even prior to the Munich Agreement, he remembers tensions with teachers and classmates, who increasingly identified with their being German and with Nazism, but he switched over to a Czech school before he could be discriminated against because of his Jewish background.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHis parents' marriage fell apart in 1934. His mother's second marriage was to a Jewish doctor, who was a staunch socialist. Peter witnessed not only the change in the political climate in his country, but also had, through his stepfather, participation in a left-wing political discourse. When Czechoslovakia mobilized against the Third Reich, Peter registered with the reserves. He was still too young to become a soldier in the war, but he was proud of his country and wanted to do something to protect it.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFurther political developments, however, very quickly smashed any hope for the survival of Czechoslovakia. Peter soon found it impossible to study Latin vocabulary while his country was falling apart. He left school and wandered aimlessly through the streets of Prague, until he was seized in 1940 by the employment office and sent asa foreign worker to Siemens in Berlin.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePeter did not initially experience the exclusion of the Jews directly, but rather via his circle of friends and his Jewish family. His father helped, through a false front, to secure the residence of Peter's mother and grandmother in their homes. The departure to Berlin made it possible for Peter, as a Jew, to temporarily disappear from the scene. He worked at Siemens in administration, had contacts with other foreign workers, received a wage and could move freely in the city.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1941, when the situation of the Jews in Prague dramatically worsened, he was asked by his father to return. His mother and grandmother were now forced to wear the Yellow Star. Through his presence in Prague, Peter was supposed to secure the apartment for his mother and grandmother for as long as possible. His father got him a job in a bookstore. Peter remembers how more and more people disappeared from his environment and were deported.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, he had to accompany his mother to the collection point. His father had, through the Czech police, contact with both women after they had been deported to Theresienstadt Ghetto (Terezin). They learned of the death of Peter's grandmother six weeks later and of the death of his mother a year later.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eUntil 1944, Peter tried, despite these threatening developments, to lead a normal life. He loved jazz, the cinema, and was interested in girls. He made the description of the schizophrenic life he then led bearable by employing a lot of irony during the interview.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the fall of 1944, he was deported as a so-called \u0026ldquo;half-Jew\u0026rdquo; to a forced labor camp in Silesia. After the prisoners had assembled a prefabricated barracks for themselves, they had to work splitting stones in a quarry. The gravel thus obtained was used to expand a nearby airstrip. A short time later, Peter was arrested by the Gestapo and taken via Breslau (Wrocław) back to Prague. He was accused of illegal dealings and was suspected of having been in contact with a resistance group.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn his transport from prison to prison, he was subjected to harassment and brutal interrogation methods by the SS. Since they could not prove anything against him, he was finally sent to a forced labor camp run by the Organization Todt in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), where he had to cut down trees.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTowards the end of the war, the forced labor camp was liquidated, and after several adventures, Peter finally managed to reach Prague in May 1945. In 1948, he earned a PhD from the University of Prague. In 1949, he went with his then-girlfriend and future first wife Hannah illegally over the border into Germany. In 1952, the couple immigrated to the United States, where Peter earned a second doctorate in American literature. He has two daughters. Peter D. was a professor of comparative literature at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books and writes regular reviews to this day in the German press. At the time of the interview, he had completed work on a book that reflects the history of Prague together with his own life story.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"provider":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/005/original/Fortunoff-Logo.png?1549333634","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/207/985/small/ZA573_03_01_sd720p.mp4_1694783529.jpg?1694783530","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207985","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - ZA573_03_01_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":3661.08,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/207/985/small/ZA573_03_01_sd720p.mp4_1694783529.jpg?1694783530","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207985/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207985/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/207/985/original/ZA573_03_01_sd720p.mp4?1694783523","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3661.08,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207985","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207986","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - ZA573_03_02_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":3644.88,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/207/986/small/ZA573_03_02_sd720p.mp4_1694783535.jpg?1694783536","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207986/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207986/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/207/986/original/ZA573_03_02_sd720p.mp4?1694783529","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3644.88,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207986","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207984","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - ZA573_03_03_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":1469.16,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/207/984/small/ZA573_03_03_sd720p.mp4_1694782545.jpg?1694782546","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207984/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207984/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/207/984/original/ZA573_03_03_sd720p.mp4?1694782542","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1469.16,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107098/file/207984","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]}]}