Celina M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Celina M., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1923. She recalls her father's prominence in Yiddish theater; playing children's roles in the theater; participating in Hakoah; antisemitism, particularly on Poland's constitution day; German invasion; moving with her family to Warsaw; ghettoization; food shortages and round-ups; her mother's escape using false papers; arrest and imprisonment trying to follow her mother; release; escaping with paid smugglers (she never saw her father or sister again); joining her mother near Lublin; working on a farm in Wolica Brzozowa; friendship with one daughter; their departure when it became too dangerous; moving from place to place in the forest; hiding on another farm; refusing to let her mother surrender; posing as Christians (her mother posed as a mute to hide her Jewish accent), and moving from village to village, working on farms; avoiding Polish Home Army officers; participating in Catholic services; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to ?o?dz? via Zamos?c?; moving to Feldafing; their emigration to the United States; and marriage. Mrs. M. discusses visiting her sister's and father's death-sites in Poland; a strong emotional response when her husband led prayers in Warsaw; recounting her experiences to her son; and close relations with fellow survivors.
Extent and Medium
3 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., Celina, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Feldafing (Displaced persons camp)
- Sportklub Hakoah.
Subjects
- Forests.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Polish.
- Escapes.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- False papers.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Refugee camps.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Lublin (Poland)
- Zamość (Poland)
- Wolica Brzozowa (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Warsaw ghetto.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat