Sylvia K. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 1425
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Sylvia K., who was born in Smorgon?, Belarus (then Poland) and raised in Oshmyany. She recalls teaching kindergarten in Vilna; returning to Oshmyany; Soviet occupation; German invasion in 1941; the mass murder of Jewish men and boys, including her husband; ghettoization; her mother's deportation; transfer in 1943 with her sister, aunt and their children to several labor camps, then to Palemonas; a round-up of all children, including her daughter; transfer to the Kovno ghetto, then Stutthof; forced labor at several camps; sharing her clothes with her sister; and liberation by Soviet troops in 1944. She recounts working for the Soviets; traveling to ?o?dz?; an extended hospitalization in Munich; marriage to her aunt's husband; her daughter's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. K. details many incidents of life in ghettos and concentration camps.

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

  • K., Sylvia.

Corporate Bodies

  • Palemonas (Concentration camp)
  • Stutthof (Concentration camp)

Subjects

  • Jewish ghettos.
  • Children -- Death.
  • Jews -- Lithuania -- Kaunas.
  • Jews -- Belarus -- Ashmi︠a︡ny.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
  • Husband -- Death.
  • Forced labor.
  • Sisters.
  • Soviet occupation.
  • Mass killings.
  • Mutual aid.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Holocaust survivors.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Women.
  • Video tapes.

Places

  • Poland.
  • Smorgonʹ (Belarus)
  • Ashmi︠a︡ny (Belarus)
  • Kovno ghetto.
  • Vilna (Lithuania)
  • Łódź (Poland)
  • Munich (Germany)
  • Oshmyany ghetto.

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.