Ruth H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ruth H., who was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1928, the only child of an affluent family. She recalls a beautiful life; German occupation in 1939; her father's disappearance; living with her mother and grandmother; her aunt's suicide upon receiving deportation notice; their deportation to Theresienstadt in 1942; extreme hunger; their transfer to Auschwitz in 1944; separation from her grandmother; assignment to the family camp; slave labor clearing bombing rubble in Hamburg; clandestinely receiving food from French POWs; a death march to Bergen-Belsen; liberation; transfer to a hospital in Sweden; hearing from a cousin in New York; emigration to join her; her mother's death (she never fully recovered); marriage; her daughter's birth; and divorce. Ms. H. discusses the limitations of words to describe their suffering; surviving due to her mother; not sharing her experiences after the war; nightmares; her daughter's former lack of interest in her story and more current interest; a recent trip to Prague with her daughter; and continuing fondness for Prague.
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., Ruth, -- 1928-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Family camp (Birkenau)
- Child survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Death marches.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Nightmares.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
Places
- Czechoslovakia.
- Hamburg (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Sweden.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat