Jean K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Jean K., who was born in 1918 in Vilnius, Poland (presently Lithuania). She recounts her sister's birth; attending Zionist meetings; studying business; Soviet occupation; marriage in 1940; her son's birth in 1941; German invasion; ghettoization; the shooting of her mother, sister and grandparents; her father's illness and death; a round-up in September 1943; separation from her husband and child (she never saw them again); deportation to Kaiserwald; slave labor in an AEG factory; assistance from fellow prisoners after a severe whipping; transfer to Stuffhof in 1944, then to Torun? one month later; Latvian civilian workers giving them food; transfer to Bromberg; a death march in February 1945; escaping with two others; hiding with a Polish woman; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to ?o?dz?, then Kielce; fleeing from a pogrom; traveling to Munich; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage to a survivor; moving to Munich; her daughter's birth; emigration to the United States; and her son's birth. Ms. K. discusses seeing a child en route to the U.S. whom she believed was her son; suing for custody and losing; her husband's early death due to beatings received in Birkenau; and receiving reparation payments.
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
- K., Jean, -- 1918-
Corporate Bodies
- Kaiserwald (Concentration camp)
- Feldafing (Displaced persons camp)
- Stutthof (Concentration camp)
- Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (Germany)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Refugee camps.
- Escapes.
- Soviet occupation.
- Zionist activities.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Forced labor.
- Death marches.
- Jews -- Lithuania -- Vilnius.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hiding.
- Husband -- Death.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
Places
- Poland.
- Bromberg (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Vilna ghetto.
- Toruń (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Kielce (Poland)
- Munich (Germany)
- Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Łódź (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat