Walter Absil collection

Copyright Holder: Mr. Walter Absil Consists of one DVD entitled "A Witness to History: A message of tolerance and respect from Holocaust survivor Walter Absil" and a folder of copies of wartime documents related to Mr. Absil's Holocaust experiences. On the DVD, Mr. Absil, who was born Walter Bondy, describes his life in pre-war Vienna, his family's immigration to Belgium after the Anschluss, and their attempts to gain Belgian citizenship (including attempts to marry Walter's teenage sister to a Belgian citizen and Walter's adoption into the Belgian Absil family). The family went into hiding and were later separated; Walter's parents were arrested and deported, Walter's sister hid in a religious school, and Walter hid on a farm. After Belgium was liberated, Walter and his sister were reunited and discovered that their parents were deported to Auschwitz, where they perished. Includes copies of Walter's Belgian identity card, his false identity card, his brother-in-law's identity card as a member of the resistance, information regarding the fate of his parents, and a letter written by his father from St. Cyprien.