Elfi E. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Elfi E., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1927. She remembers living with her grandparents (her parents were divorced); a close relationship with her twin brother; being attacked by Hitler youth; Kristallnacht; her mother's decision to send her and her brother to Belgium to join their father; the paid smuggler abandoning them in Aachen; their father finding them; placement with foster families; missing her brother; briefly seeing her mother who was emigrating to London; placement in an orphanage in Middelkerke; evacuation to an orphanage in Brussels during German invasion in May 1940 (her brother was evacuated to France); anti-Jewish laws including expulsion from school and wearing the yellow star; being protected and hidden by the orphanage; liberation by the British troops in September 1944; joining her mother in London; and emigrating to the United States by herself. Mrs. E. discusses becoming assimilated; sharing her experience with her children; and continuing close relations with her brother and friends from the orphanage (she saw one at the Hidden Child Conference). She shows photographs.
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
- E., Elfi, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Orphanages -- Belgium.
- Identification (Religion)
- Child survivors.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Berlin (Germany)
- Aachen (Germany)
- Middelkerke (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Germany.
- London (England)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat