Stephanie R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Stephanie R., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1922. She recalls her father's strong German identity; losing his bank in 1933 due to anti-Jewish legislation; her expulsion from school in 1938; convincing her father to hide on Kristallnacht to avoid arrest; her wish to emigrate; her father's refusal until August 1939; and the painful parting from her parents. Mrs. R. describes difficulties adjusting in England; communications with her parents prior to the war; a nine month incarceration on the Isle of Man as a potential German spy; return to London; the trauma of German bombing raids; a warm relationship with a woman she considered her adopted mother; postwar return to Munich; learning her parents were in Berlin; translation work at the Nuremberg trials; reunion with her parents; difficulties relating to each other after a six year separation; and her feeling no matter what she did for her father, it was never enough. She recounts her parents' wartime experiences hiding in many places with the assistance of Germans, one a church pastor recognized by Yad Vashem for saving Jews; her father's refusal to leave Germany; her emigration to the United States; marriage in 1949; and her permanent sense of not "feeling at home anywhere."
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
- R., Stephanie, -- 1922-
Subjects
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Noncitizens.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Parent and child.
- Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Nuremberg War Crime Trials, Nuremberg, Germany, 1946-1949.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Noncitizens -- Evacuation and relocation.
Places
- London (England) -- History -- Bombardment, 1939-1945.
- Isle of Man.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Germany.
- London (England)
- England.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc