Rene?e H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rene?e H., who was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, in 1933. She recalls her childhood in German-occupied Bratislava, where, as the "ears" of her deaf parents and younger sister, she gathered information and alerted them to immediate dangers. She speaks of her and her sister's flight from Bratislava and hiding with a farm family; the ordeal of finding shelter after being evicted from the farm following their parents' deportation; and their voluntary surrender to the police in hopes of locating their parents. She relates her disappointment when she and her sister were sent from the transit camp in Sered,? to Bergen-Belsen, instead of to Auschwitz, where she had hoped to be reunited with her parents. Mrs. H. describes her life in Bergen-Belsen, where she and her sister, whom she made every effort to protect, remained until their liberation a year later; her postwar recuperation in Bergen-Belsen and in Sweden; and her adjustment to her new life after emigrating to the United States. Other topics discussed include her views on the relationship between the past and the present and the importance of her writing.
Extent and Medium
3 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
People
- H., ReneĚe, -- 1933-
Corporate Bodies
- Sered (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Mutual aid.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Deaf.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Hiding.
- Child survivors.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Women.
- Sisters.
Places
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Sweden.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat