Irene F. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Irene F., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1924 and grew up in Krako?w. She recalls her complete lack of Jewish identity; antisemitism at school; German invasion; her sense of foreboding about the future including a specific dream; fleeing with her parents to Ternopil?; work and school conditions under Soviet occupation; moving to Svarichov, then L?vov; German invasion in 1941; ghettoization; supporting her parents so they could avoid round-ups; her flight to Tarno?w in December 1941 (she never saw her parents again); working in an aunt's medical practice; moving into the ghetto; receiving false papers from her mother; and posing as a Polish peasant. Mrs. F. describes joining a transport of Polish laborers to Germany; arduous conditions as a slave laborer in several towns including Bad Neustadt; receiving letters from her parents until July 1943; transfer to a Siemens factory; liberation by Americans; learning the fate of her parents; and joining relatives in the United States. Mrs. F. reflects on her enduring regret at not having been able to save her parents and the end of Polish Jewry and its impact on raising her own 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. This testimony may not be used until 1998.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- F., Irene, -- 1924-1997.
Corporate Bodies
- Siemens Aktiengesellschaft.
Subjects
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar effects.
- Hiding.
- Child survivors.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Family.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Tarnów (Województwo Małopolskie)
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Nightmares.
- Soviet occupation.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Lʹviv.
Places
- Berlin (Germany)
- Lʹvov ghetto.
- Svarichov.
- Tarnów (Województwo Małopolskie, Poland)
- Bad Neustadt an der Saale (Germany)
- Lʹviv (Ukraine)
- Ternopilʹ (Ukraine)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Germany.
- Tarnów ghetto.
- Lwów (Poland)
- Lʹvov (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat