Hermina A. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Hermina A., who was born to a Roman Catholic family in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1919. She recalls wonderful relations with Jews; German invasion; marriage in 1941; her son's birth in 1942; her brothers' compulsory forced labor in Germany; her husband obtaining false papers to leave Holland to escape forced labor; observing Jews disappearing; joining an underground unit; acting as a courier; capture; arranging for her son to be with her parents; imprisonment and torture in Amsterdam and Arnhem; not divulging any names she knew; transfer to Vught after several months; slave labor digging ditches, then for Philips; sabotaging radios they manufactured; learning she was to be released; smuggling out letters for other underground members; being sent to the Hague; returning to Amsterdam; reunion with her family (she did not recognize her son); difficulties obtaining food; liberation by Canadian troops; and receiving a medal from the queen for her work. Mrs. A. discusses joining the underground so her son could grow up in freedom; having no regrets except for the pain she caused her family; and testifying at war crime trials. She shows photographs.
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
- A., Hermina, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- Philips Business Communication (Firm : Hilversam, Netherlands)
- Vught (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- False papers.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camp inmates.
- War crime trials -- Netherlands.
- Sabotage.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Dutch.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Dutch.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
Places
- Hague (Netherlands)
- Arnhem (Netherlands)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Netherlands.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat