Mary M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mary M., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1913. She recalls attending school in ?o?dz? and university in Vienna; her assimilated, wealthy and cultured family background; her mother's death in 1934; cordial relations with non-Jews; her sense that events in Germany were distant despite contact with German refugees; and marriage on July 1, 1939. Mrs. M. recounts German invasion; learning from a co-worker that Germans were taking Jewish hostages; escaping to Warsaw with her husband and father; the walling-in of the ghetto; her job in a factory through which she had the use of a phone; beginning of the mass deportations; obtaining false papers; escape through sewers; inability to save her father; incidents of blackmail and bribery; being hidden by a Polish count who was active in the Polish resistance; the 1944 uprising and resulting siege of Warsaw; her husband's participation as a Polish officer; and leaving Warsaw in the forced evacuation. She describes hiding in Polish villages; help received from peasants; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to ?o?dz? in 1945; escape to the American zone of Germany; work for UNRRA; and the tremendous impact of the first Seder of her life held for UNRRA personnel.
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
- M., Mary, -- 1913-
Corporate Bodies
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- False papers.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Poland.
- Husband and wife.
Places
- Poland.
- Vienna (Austria)
- Łódź (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland) -- History -- Uprising, 1944.
- Warsaw ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc