Testimony of Fredi Knoler, born in Vienna, Austria, in 1921 regarding the French resistance and the Drancy, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps

German occupation and annexation of Austria( Anschluss) in 1938; Kristallnacht in 1938; crossing borders to Antwerpen,Belgium in 1938 where acquaintances of the family stayed; transfer to a camp for Jewish refugees (with the support of the Jewish community) in Merkplas in 1939; escape to France after the German occupation of Belgium in 1940; his detention in Lille,France because of his German (Austrian) nationality and transfer to the detention camp in St Cyprien in 1940; his escape from the camp to Gaillac and his work in agriculture in 1940; buying of forged certificates and his moving to Paris,as a French from the Alsace-Lorraine region in 1941; his life and work in Paris as a guide to places of entertainment for German soldiers; joining the French resistance and escape to Figeac in 1942; his arrest by the gestapo; interrogations and tortures; discovery of his Jewish identity and his deportation to Drancy in 1943; transfer to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943; his work in a cement commando in Monowitz-Auschwitz III; death march to Gleiwitz camp in 1945; deportation to the Dora Mittelbau camp,Germany in 1945; working in an ammunition factory making V1-V2 rockets; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; liberation by the British; moving to Paris and from there to Salornay Sur Guye for recovery; moving to New-York, United States in 1947; then to London,England in 1951