Frieda G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Frieda G., who was born in De?bica, Poland in 1916. Mrs. G. recounts her childhood; marriage in 1938 in Rzeszo?w; wartime transfer eastward of her father and husband; arrival of the German army; and occupation conditions. She tells of smuggling herself to her husband in the Russian area; returning to the German area; the clandestine return of her husband in 1942; ghetto life; her husband's forced labor for Organisation Todt; their transport with two of her sisters to Huta Komorowska, a camp in the Polish forest; and her separation from her husband when the camp was liquidated. She recalls her transfer with her sister to P?aszo?w; the horrible conditions there; witnessing a massacre; and her transport with her sister to Auschwitz eighteen months later. She describes arrival at Auschwitz; aid she received which enabled her to survive; an aborted revolt and subsequent hangings; and her transfer to the infirmary. She recounts the death march; escape and hiding in Bielsko-Bia?a with the aid of a local farmer; liberation by the Russians; returning to Krako?w; reunion with her brother; anti-Semitic incidents; a brief visit to her hometown; reunion with her husband in Malmo?, Sweden; and their emigration to New York. Mrs. G. reflects upon her reluctance to discuss her experiences and her belief that the legacy of the Holocaust has been the devaluation of human life and her hope that her pessimism may be wrong.
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
- G., Frieda, -- 1916-
Corporate Bodies
- Organisation Todt (Germany)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Death marches.
- Jews -- Poland -- Rzeszów.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Revenge.
- Mutual aid.
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Concentration camps -- Revolts.
Places
- Poland.
- Kraków (Poland)
- Malmö (Sweden)
- Dębica (Województwo Podkarpackie, Poland)
- Rzeszów (Poland)
- Huta Komorowska (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Bielsko-Biała (Poland)
- Rzeszów ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat