Margaret P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Margaret P., who was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1923. She recounts her father's death before she was born; her mother's return to her parents in Budapest; visits with her paternal grandparents in Czechoslovakia; and anti-Semitic incidents in school. Mrs. P. describes sudden changes when Germany occupied Hungary; her marriage on April 8, 1944 during her husband's leave from a Hungarian labor battalion; a round-up in December; a fascist guard giving her the opportunity to escape but refusing since she had no place to go; and arrival in Bergen-Belsen on the last transport from Budapest. She recalls conditions in Belsen; learning of gas chambers and crematoria; transfer to Raguhn to work in an airplane factory; sores all over her body, particularly her feet; a more humane camp commander; transfer to Terezi?n; and liberation. Mrs. P. remembers returning to Budapest; reunion with her mother and husband; spending one year at a Czech tuberculosis sanitarium; returning to Budapest; having to terminate a pregnancy due to ill health; emigration to Sweden in 1947; the births of her children; and emigration to the United States in 1950. She emphasizes the importance of having prayed to her grandmother and credits dreams about her with giving Mrs. P. the strength to survive. She also discusses her family with pride and joy.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette (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
- P., Margaret, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Friendship.
- Forced labor.
- Grandmothers.
- Dreams.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Faith.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
Places
- United States.
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Newark (N.J.)
- Raguhn (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc