Pola J. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Pola J., who was born in Rovno, Poland in 1927, and raised in the shtetl Antono?wka. Mrs. J. describes mutual respect among Jews, Poles and Ukrainians; a school teacher who tried to incite anti-Semitic conflict; Soviet occupation; her mother's refusal to flee east in 1941; robberies and killings by Ukrainians; forced labor; and being sent by her mother to sleep with a Ukrainian family. She tells of her mother's disappearance in Rovno in mid-1942; fleeing with her father, brother, and aunt to the woods; being caught and nearly killed in October 1942; building a bunker; a Polish friend who arranged their shelter with a peasant; her father's and brother's capture and killing in April 1943; and her aunt's death in May. She relates betrayal by the Ukrainian who had formerly sheltered her; finding her cousin and his family in the forest near Kamenka; hiding with them; liberation in January 1944; searching for her mother in Rovno; going to ?o?dz?, then illegally to Austria; life in Bindermichl displaced persons camp; marriage to a survivor; his murder while visiting Poland; and her emigration to America in 1950.
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
- J., Pola, -- 1927-
Subjects
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Soviet occupation.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Fathers and daughters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Collaborationists -- Ukraine.
- Forced labor.
- Refugee camps.
- Family.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Bunkers.
- Child survivors.
- Hiding.
- Forests.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Poland.
- Antonovka (Ukraine)
- Kamenka-Bugskai︠a︡ (Ukraine)
- Rivne (Rivnensʹka oblastʹ, Ukraine)
- Antonówka (Poland)
- Bindermichl (Austria : Refugee camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc