Magda F. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Magda F., who was born in Gyo?r, Hungary in 1923. She recalls her father's Hungarian patriotism; opting not to join an uncle in Argentina in 1938; German occupation in 1944; anti-Jewish measures; family and community failure to recognize the imminent danger; offers from non-Jewish friends to hide them and their refusal; deportation to Auschwitz on June 10, 1944; and separation from her family. Mrs. F. describes camp conditions; the inability to recognize the extermination process; relations between Jews from different countries; a recurring dream of escape; transport to Lippstadt six weeks later; forced labor in an aircraft factory; the kindness of one German guard; mutual support among her friends; refusal to eat on Yom Kippur; Allied bombings; a forced march toward Bergen-Belsen in April 1945; and liberation by American troops. She remembers difficulties obtaining papers to emigrate to Argentina; waiting in Switzerland; arrival in Argentina in 1948; marriage shortly thereafter; the births of her children and making them her primary focus; discomfort knowing that high level Nazis lived nearby, including Eichmann and Mengele; recurring nightmares; and emigration to the United States in 1963. Other topics include her family relationships and her belief that her experiences impacted her children.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- F., Magda, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Mutual aid.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Death marches.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Nightmares.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Family.
- Forced labor.
Places
- GyoĚr (Hungary)
- Hungary.
- Switzerland.
- Argentina.
- Lippstadt (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat