Hella H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Hella H., who was born in Breslau, Germany in 1919. She recounts her father's death prior to her birth; attending a Catholic school; her mother's remarriage; anti-Jewish regulations and deteriorating conditions after Hitler became chancellor; her brother's emigration to the United States in 1938; Kristallnacht; emigrating with her parents to Sarpsborg, Norway in October 1939; relocating to Fredrikstad; German invasion in 1940; a brief hospitalization in Oslo; her stepfather's arrest; visiting him in prison; his release and death shortly thereafter; escaping deportation, in the fall of 1942, with the aid of friends; hiding in the woods for six weeks, then in an attic; being smuggled into Sweden by the Norwegian underground; living in Go?teborg for three years; and emigration to join her brother in the United States in October 1945. Mrs. H. notes her marriage and children's births; discusses losing her belief in God because of the Holocaust; and learning to find pleasure in life again.
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
- H., Hella, -- 1919-
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Parent and child.
- Faith.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Hiding.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Postwar effects.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
Places
- Germany.
- Oslo (Norway)
- Fredrikstad (Norway)
- Sarpsborg (Norway)
- WrocĹaw (Poland)
- GoĚteborg (Sweden)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat