June M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of June M., who was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1929. She describes her close extended family; joyous holiday celebrations in an orthodox environment; German invasion; fleeing with her family to Calais, France; repatriation to Antwerp by the Germans; forced relocation to Limburg; moving to Brussels; anti-Jewish restrictions; refusing to wear the star; being hidden in a convent in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (her parents hid elsewhere); conversion to Catholicism; wonderful relations with nuns; tacitly acknowledging the other hidden Jewish children (there were twenty-eight); seeing adults who were hidden; relocation to another convent; liberation by United States troops; reunion with her parents; moving to Brussels, then Antwerp; emigrating to the United States; her marriage; her daughter's birth; and her divorce. Mrs. M. discusses learning most of her family did not survive and that the convent was an underground center; not sharing her experiences, especially with people who survived concentration camps; membership in the Hidden Child Foundation, which provided an opportunity to share her story; and the importance of her grandchildren. Mrs. M. 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
- M., June, -- 1929-
Corporate Bodies
- Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Convents.
- Christian converts from Judaism.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Identification (Religion)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Child survivors.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Calais (France)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (Belgium)
- Limburg (Belgium)
- Belgium.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat