Bernice B. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 1161
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Bernice B., who was born in Strzemieszyce Wielkie, Poland in 1925, the oldest of five children. She recalls pervasive antisemitism; German invasion; expulsion from their house; hiding during round-ups; ghettoization; forced factory labor; deportation to Neustadt in 1942 (she never saw her family again); transfer after three years to Flossenbu?rg, then Bergen-Belsen; liberation; returning home seeking surviving family; leaving when she found no one; living in Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; marriage in 1946; her son's birth; and emigration to the United States. Ms. B. discusses surviving due to her hope that she would reunite with her family; observing Jewish holidays in camp; and severe depression, loss of belief in God, and suicidal thoughts upon learning no one in her family had survived. She shows photographs.

Extent and Medium

1 videocassette

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

  • B., Bernice, -- 1925-

Corporate Bodies

  • Flossenbürg (Concentration camp)
  • Neustadt-Glewe (Concentration camp)
  • DP-Camp Bergen-Belsen.
  • Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)

Subjects

  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
  • Jewish ghettos.
  • Jews -- Poland -- Strzemieszyce Wielkie.
  • Holocaust survivors.
  • Video tapes.
  • Women.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Postwar effects.
  • Child survivors.
  • Antisemitism -- Prewar.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Forced labor.
  • Refugee camps.
  • Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
  • Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.

Places

  • Poland.
  • Strzemieszyce ghetto.
  • Strzemieszyce Wielkie (Poland)

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.