Rachel S. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Rachel S., who was born in Vilna, Poland in 1923, one of five children. She recalls cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion in 1941; ghettoization; sneaking back to her former neighborhood and receiving food from non-Jewish neighbors; forced labor; her father losing his will to live; his refusal of an offer from a non-Jewish friend to hide their family; remaining in their apartment with one sister during a round-up (another sister and her parents were shot in a mass killing at Ponary); joining her brother who was hiding in a village; discovery; incarceration of those hiding them; a three-week Gestapo interrogation in Vilna; transfer to a small camp in September 1943, then to Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Dachau; liberation; assistance from the Red Cross; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage six weeks after liberation; reunion with one brother, the only other family survivor; living in Heidenhiem displaced persons camp for three years; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. notes she lost her faith, although never lost hope in the camps; nightmares about being caught by Germans; not sharing her story with her daughters; and painful feelings concerning the reunification of Germany.

2 videocassettes