Renata M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Renata M., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1925. She recalls not understanding why she could no longer attend public school; her non-Jewish nursemaid's role in their escape to Italy in 1936; settling in Alassio; her father's and uncle's imprisonments during which she visited them; imprisonment with her mother in Perugia; transfer to Cascia under police supervision; receiving food from the villagers; transfer to Citta? di Castella, where her brother was born in 1941; and her realization that something was wrong. Mrs. M. describes moving to Bevagna; receiving orders to report to the police; being hidden with her brother in a monastery; hiding, with help from her future husband and his family, on farms and in the mountains of the Assisi area; several incidents of near discovery; reunion with her parents after liberation; her marriage; and emigration to the United States in 1954. She reflects upon her uncertainty about her Jewish identity and why she was persecuted and related a recent incident which brought back a vivid and traumatic memory of her experience in hiding.
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
- M., Renata, -- 1925-
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Child survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Identification (Religion)
- Monasteries.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Family.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Cascia (Italy)
- Citta︥ di Castello (Italy)
- Bevagna (Italy)
- Germany.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Alassio (Italy)
- Perugia (Italy)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat