Sonja M. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 1173
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Sonja M., who was born in Berlin in 1925. She recalls antisemitic harassment in school; expulsion; attending a Jewish school; refusing a place on a kindertransport to remain with her parents; forced factory labor; her parents' deportation; hiding with her future husband (his job for the Jewish Kultusgemeinde provided protection and influence); deportation to Theresienstadt in June 1943 due to his influence; marriage by a rabbi; a Red Cross visit; deportation to Birkenau in October 1944; transfer ten days later to Freiberg; slave labor in an airplane factory; civilians throwing them food during transfer to Mauthausen; liberation by United States troops; recovering from a high fever; being smuggled to Linz by a friend; traveling to Frankfurt, and Bielefeld; reunion with her husband; living in Munich; one child's birth; and emigration to the United States in order not to raise their children in Germany. Mrs. M. discusses emotional numbness in the camps and at liberation; difficulty believing people were gassed and burned, even when she was in Auschwitz; continuing nightmares; and seldom discussing her experiences with her husband or children.

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.

Related Units of Description

  • Associated material: Kurt M. Holocaust testimony [husband] (HVT-1172), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

People

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

Genre

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.