Witness Testimonies
Script and Concept: Christian Dürr
in cooperation with: Ralf Lechner, Stefan Wolfinger
Coordination: Michael G. Kraft
Technical Realization: CCC FILM GmbH & Co. KG
Sources: Mauthausen Survivors Documentation Project (MSDP),
Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, New Jersey (courtesy of USHMM)
Interviewers: Piotr Filipkowski, Viviana Frenkel, Alena Koslowa, Sidney Langer, Irina Ostrowskaja, Alice von Plato, Božo Repe, Marilyn Tranchant, Mercedes Vilanova
Camera: Bernadette Dewald, Alexey Hanutin, Chiel van der Kruit, Andrey Kupavskiy, Jerzy Tabor
The film "Remembering Gusen" is based on video interviews with the following survivors of the concentration camp Gusen:
Leon Ceglarz
born on 1 February 1914 in Plock, Poland, was soldier in the Polish army during the German attack on Poland in 1939. As a civilian, he was arrested in April 1940, deported to Dachau and, in May, directly on to Gusen I and II where he was finally liberated in May 1945.
Wassilij Kononenko
born on 8 February 1926 in Markowzy, Ukraine, arrested in March 1943 on suspicion of being a communist functionary. In December he was deported to Mauthausen and subsequently to Gusen. Later on he was transported to Melk and liberated in May 1945 in Ebensee.
Leonid Kuzmin
born on 7 September 1920, in the Gorky Region, Russia, was captured in August 1941 as soldier of the Red Army. After a failed attempt to escape, he was deported to Germany as prisoner-of-war and subsequently sent to Gusen in November 1941. He was liberated there in May 1945.
Joaquín López Raimundo
was born on 8 October 1919 in Saragossa Region, Spain. As a member of the Republican Army he fled to France where, after the occupation, he fell prisoner-of-war to the Germans. In April 1941 he was deported to Mauthausen and, towards the end of the year, on to Gusen. After the liberation in May 1945 he did not return to Spain but stayed in France.
Henri Maître
born on 5 July 1923 near Nice, France, was arrested in January 1944 as member of the French Résistance. In course of the so-called "Aktion Nacht und Nebel" he was deported to Mauthausen in March 1944 and subsequently on to Gusen. Seriously ill, he was liberated in Mauthausen in May 1945.
Gianfranco Maris
born on 24 January 1921 in Milan, Italy, was officer in the Italian army until the capitulation in September 1943. He then joined the Partisans and was arrested in spring 1944. Via Fossoli and Bolzano he was deported to Mauthausen and, in August 1944, to Gusen where he was liberated in May 1945.
Erwin Rinker
born on 9 February 1915, near Stuttgart, Germany, was arrested in March 1938 as confessing Jehova's Witness. At first, he was imprisoned in Dachau and then transported to Mauthausen in August 1939. As soon as spring 1940 he was sent to Gusen to work in the camp's construction. He remained there until his liberation in May 1945.
Dušan Stefančič
born on 14 August 1927 in Gornij Grad, Slovenia, joined the Slovenian resistance after the occupation of Yugoslavia. In January 1944 he was arrested and subsequently deported to Dachau and on to Natzweiler. In August 1944 he came to Mauthausen and was transferred from there to the camps Gusen I and II. He was liberated in Gusen in May 1945.
Abraham Zuckerman
was born in 1923 or 1924 in Kraków, Poland. As of a Jewish family he suffered racist persecution after the German occupation of Poland. His whole family was assassinated while he himself was first deported to the work camp P?aszów. After its evacuation he was transported to Mauthausen in August 1944 and subsequently on to Gusen II for work in the tunnel construction. He was liberated in May 1945, later he emigrated to the U.S.A.