Cecile L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Cecile L., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1923. She recalls moving to Antwerp; living in the Jewish quarter; being placed in a Jewish class at school; antisemitism; German invasion; fleeing with her parents to De Panne, then France (Ambleteuse and Calais); returning to Antwerp; arranging for her grandmother to join them by writing a letter to the Belgian queen; living with her mother (her father was in hiding); attending a Jewish teacher training course in Ghent; teaching in a Jewish orphanage in Brussels; anti-Jewish restrictions; hiding with her parents in several places; she and another girl smuggling themselves to Switzerland via France with assistance from a German guard; surrendering to the police in Biel; internment in nine camps, including Bern, Langenbruck, Brissago, and Lucerne; close friendship with a camp leader; several nervous breakdowns; reunion with her parents in Switzerland; returning to Antwerp after the war; studying in Geneva; and emigrating to the United States in 1954. Mrs. L. discusses physical and emotional illnesses arising from her wartime experiences; her activities with Holocaust organizations; and the difficulties Belgian Jews faced in hiding or resisting.

2 videocassettes