Ketty L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ketty L., who was born in Athens, Greece in 1915. She recalls the deaths of her mother and stepmother; attending a French convent school; marriage; the births of two sons; benign Italian occupation in spring 1941; German invasion in 1943; hiding to avoid round-ups; leaving valuables with non-Jewish friends (they returned them after the war), who also offered to hide her sons; refusing to separate from her children; her husband obtaining Portuguese identity papers which they thought protected them; arrest on March 19, 1944; incarceration in Haidari; placement on a train; Red Cross workers throwing them food; transfer to Bergen-Belsen (most of the transport went to Auschwitz and perished); her sons staying with her when men and women were separated; believing they would not survive; a Hungarian prisoner predicting they would survive which gave her hope; a brief death march to an evacuation train in April 1945; liberation by United States troops; recuperating in Hillersleben; traveling to Paris, then Marseille; three week detention in Italy en route to Athens in fall 1945; difficulties reclaiming their house; and emigrating to the United States in 1951. Mrs. L. notes one son's reluctance to discuss his experiences. She shows photographs and documents.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- L., Ketty, -- 1915-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Haidari (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Mothers and sons.
- Husband and wife.
- Family.
- Italian occupation.
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
Places
- Hillersleben (Germany)
- Athens (Greece)
- Greece.
- Postwar experiences.
- Italy.
- Marseille (France)
- Paris (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat