Fela F. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Fela F., who was born in Poland in 1923 and moved with her family to Brussels in 1926. She recounts her father's orthodoxy; a brief flight to France before German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; marriage in 1941; her parents and two siblings reporting for deportation in 1942 (she never saw them again); she and her husband hiding with non-Jews in Uccle, using false papers; receiving information from the people hiding them about smuggling herself to Switzerland; interment in a refugee camp in Switzerland; her husband being turned back when he followed her (she never saw him again); improved conditions in the camp during a Red Cross visit; profound sadness at war's end, realizing she was completely alone; emigration to the United States in 1948; and marriage to a non-Jew who subsequently converted. Mrs. F. discusses persistent fears resulting from her experiences; not sharing her story with her children in order to protect them; and later learning they knew more than she had thought they did. She shows photographs and memorabilia related to her experience.
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
- F., Fela, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Refugee camps.
- Escapes.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Husband -- Death.
- Interfaith marriage.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- False papers.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
Places
- Switzerland.
- Poland.
- Uccle (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat