Helena H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Helena H., who was born in 1926 in Pilzno, Poland. She recalls her mother's death when she was six; her father's remarriage; German invasion; public humiliation of Jews; forced labor; the influx of Jews from surrounding towns; hiding during the first "aktion" in July 1942 when many relatives were deported; ghettoization; her brother's deportation during the second "aktion" in November; non-Jewish friends helping her join a transport of Polish laborers in December 1942; and her last glimpse of her father. Mrs. H. recounts transfer to Krako?w; forced labor in Prokocim concentration camp for a year; encountering many Jews who could have exposed her but chose not to recognize her; obtaining false papers she could not use because they did not "match" her other papers; an Austrian worker choosing her as his servant and bringing her to the Tyrol via Vienna in February 1944; comfortable living conditions in Tyrol; her collapse upon liberation in 1945; and fear of revealing her true identity for another year and a half. She notes she dreams of losing her papers when she is under pressure.
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
- H., Helena, -- 1926-
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Child survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- False papers.
- Jews -- Poland -- Pilzno.
- Nightmares.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Pilzno ghetto.
- KrakoĚw (Poland)
- Prokocim (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Poland.
- Tyrol (Austria)
- Pilzno (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat