Illeen G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Illeen G., who was born in Gol?shany, Poland (presently Belarus) in 1926. She recounts her family's orthodoxy; a large, extended family; her father's emigration to the United States in 1938; Soviet occupation in 1939; German invasion in 1941; trading with non-Jews for food; ghettoization; her sister's deportation; deportation to Dundangen; encountering her sister; slave labor building roads; a German soldier giving her extra food; her mother's and other sister's arrival in 1942; transfer with her mother and sisters to Kaiserwald, then a month later to Stutthof; encountering a cousin and uncle; transfer to a farm with assistance from her cousin; adequate food including that provided by Polish civilian workers; regaining her strength; return to Stutthof three months later in July 1944; transfer with one sister to Dresden; Allied bombings; a death march to Prague in March 1945; her sister supporting her; liberation by Soviet troops; returning home; reunion with cousins; learning her mother and other sister had perished; traveling to Dresden, then Munich; living in Fo?hrenwald displaced persons camp; hearing from her father; emigration in March 1948 to the United States to join him, with assistance from HIAS; her sister's emigration in 1949; and marriage in 1950. Ms. G. discusses nervousness and nightmares resulting from her experiences; the importance of being with her sister to her survival; and attending a reunion in 1981. She shows photographs.
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
- G., Illeen, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- FoĚhrenwald (Displaced persons camp)
- HIAS (Agency)
- Stutthof (Concentration camp)
- Kaiserwald (Concentration camp)
- Dondangen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Sisters.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Death marches.
- Refugee camps.
- Forced labor.
- Child survivors.
- Nightmares.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Soviet occupation.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- GolĘšshany (Byelorussian S.S.R.)
- Poland.
- Dresden (Germany) -- History -- Bombardment, 1945.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Munich (Germany)
- Dresden (Germany)
- Dresden (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat