Lilly G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Lilly G., who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1930. She recalls her family's comfortable, assimilated life; German invasion; fleeing with her family; separation from her father (he was conscripted into the Belgian army); their return home; antisemitic measures; hiding in their apartment with the help of their Catholic housekeeper; the housekeeper arranging her placement in a convent in La Hulpe, her brothers' in an orphanage, and her mother's on a farm; attraction to Catholicism; baptism; hiding with Jewish girls during a German search; traveling to Brussels for an operation; spending one summer with her mother in a camp for underprivileged girls; returning to Brussels with her mother and brothers in 1944; meeting her future husband (he was in the Jewish Brigade); reunion with her father who had spent the war in England; emigrating with her family to England in 1946; marriage; living in Israel; and emigration to the United States in 1954 to be with her husband's family. Mrs. G. discusses forming her Jewish identity in Israel; difficulties adjusting to the United States; continuing contact with a nun from La Hulpe; her mother's refusal to talk about the war years; and the loss of her childhood.
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
- G., Lilly, -- 1930-
Subjects
- Identification (Religion)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Christian converts from Judaism.
- Convents.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Child survivors.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Israel.
- England.
- Belgium.
- La Hulpe (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat.