Martha K. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 0040
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Martha K., who was born in Oradea, Romania, in 1922 and moved to Budapest, Hungary, at the age of three. She recalls her childhood in Budapest and growing up in two cultures in her family--Jewish and assimilated. She describes the worsening situation of the Jews beginning in 1938, when she had to leave the University of Budapest and learn a trade, and culminating in mass murders and deportations in 1944. Mrs. K. relates the fate of family members, many of whom were murdered in Auschwitz while others survived by living in "safe houses" or using false papers. She details the death march from Budapest to the Austrian border in 1944; her incarceration in Ravensbru?ck, where medical experiments were performed on herself and others; and her slave labor in an airplane factory in Wesenberg. She speaks of the two week long cattle car journey to Mauthausen, where, close to death, she was liberated by the Americans in May, 1945. Mrs. K. recounts her postwar hospitalization in Mauthausen; her reunion there with her father, whom she credits with giving her a "second life"; and her reunion in Budapest with her mother and brother.

Extent and Medium

2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)

Conditions Governing Access

This testimony is open with permission.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.