Molly A. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Molly A., who was born in approximately 1924, the oldest of seven children. She recounts living in Bodzanow?; a large, extended family; their orthodoxy; participating in Bene ?Ak?iva; German invasion in 1939; her family briefly living with non-Jews in a nearby village; anti-Jewish restrictions; her father's deportation to Be?z?ec; securing his release; deportation with her family to Dzia?dowo, then Cze?stochowa; ghettoization; escaping with four siblings (the two youngest remained with her parents and they all were killed); traveling to Warsaw; walking to a village where a farmer had previously helped them; hiding the children with different Polish families; her employer obtaining birth certificates for four of them (the youngest did not need one); one brother going to work in Germany; fleeing when she was recognized; hiding in many villages; occasionally visiting her sisters; their arrest; one sister's release (they never saw their other sister again); retrieving her younger brother; her other brother's return from Germany; hiding together in the forests; liberation by Soviet troops in January 1945; returning home; reunions with several relatives; antisemitic harassment of her siblings in school; registering them with the Joint in Warsaw, which cared for them; hospitalization for two months; marriage in ?o?dz? in March 1946; entering Germany with assistance from the Joint; living in Pocking displaced persons camp; hospitalization in Munich; returning to Pocking; her son's birth in 1948; emigration to Montre?al; arranging her siblings' emigration to the United States; and joining them. Ms. A. discusses the importance of luck to her survival; frequently praying while in hiding; health problems resulting from her experiences; and attending the survivor gathering in Israel in 1981.
Extent and Medium
3 videocassettes
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
- A., Molly, -- 1924?-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- Bene ʻAḳiva (Israel)
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Forests.
- False papers.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Częstochowa.
- Sisters.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Escapes.
- Faith.
- Refugee camps.
- Child survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Pocking (Passau, Germany : Refugee camp)
- Częstochowa ghetto.
- Bodzanoẃ (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Częstochowa (Poland)
- Munich (Germany)
- Łódź (Poland)
- Soldau-Działdowo (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Montréal (Québec)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat