Ruth K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ruth K., who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1927. Mrs. K. discusses the anti-Nazi activities of her father, Alfred Wiener; the family's move to Amsterdam in 1934; prewar life there; her acquaintance with Anne Frank; her father's establishment of the Jewish Central Information Office; and his unsuccessful efforts to relocate the family before the German occupation. She relates helping her mother burn her father's papers (he was in England); increasing restrictions against Jews; friends going into hiding; deportation to Westerbork in 1943; and being forced to help load transports to other camps. She describes the family's transfer to Bergen-Belsen in early 1944; harsh conditions; encountering Anne Frank; her family's inclusion in an exchange in January 1945; journeying across Germany; her mother's death from sickness and exhaustion in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland; sailing from Marseille to the United States; and reunion with her father. Mrs. K. tells of her education in America and England; marriage to an Australian; returning to the United States in 1959 after ten years in Sydney; and the establishment of the Wiener Library, based on her father's documentation activities.
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
- Wiener, Alfred, -- 1885-1964.
- Frank, Anne, -- 1929-1945.
- K., Ruth, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- Westerbork (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Jewish Central Information Office.
- Wiener Library.
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Child survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Family.
Places
- Sternenlager (Bergen-Belsen)
- Kreuzlingen (Switzerland)
- Marseille (France)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Germany.
- Berlin (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc