Mary L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mary L., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1928. She recalls her large, extended family; their orthodoxy; attending a Jewish school; one sister's emigration to Palestine; observing the destruction after Kristallnacht; being sent with her older sister to the Netherlands (her parents planned to join them); placement in a children's home; her sister leaving since she was too old; transfer to a refugee home in Rotterdam, where her sister lived; placement with a foster family in Haarlem; German invasion; anti-Jewish laws; transfer to a Jewish home for girls in Amsterdam; her sister's deportation; being smuggled to Belgium according to her parent's instructions; hiding with them in Brussels; obtaining false papers from the underground; her mother's arrest and release by a German soldier she bribed; hiding in an attic with her parents; liberation by Allied troops; a futile search for her sister; learning diamond cutting in Antwerp; marriage; emigration to Palestine in 1946; her parents joining her in 1949; her daughter's birth; and their emigration to the United States in 1957. Ms. L. discusses her close relationship with her sister and the continuing pain of her loss. She shows photographs, documents, and memorabilia.
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
- L., Mary, -- 1928-
Subjects
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Zionists.
- Fathers and daughters.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Foster parents.
- Child survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- Orphanages -- Netherlands.
- Postwar effects.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Berlin (Germany)
- Germany.
- Haarlem (Netherlands)
- Rotterdam (Netherlands)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Palestine.
- Antwerp (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat