Vilma H. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Vilma H., who was born in Szollos, Czechoslovakia (presently Vynohradiv, Ukraine) in 1921. She recalls her family's comfortable life; Czechoslovakia's liberal atmosphere which resulted in their minimizing the danger of German antisemitism; Hungarian occupation; antisemitic restrictions; ghettoization; deportation with her family to Auschwitz; separation from her father, mother, sister, and niece (she never saw them again); assignment sorting clothing; providing friends with clothes; the pervasive odor of burning flesh; volunteering for transfer; forced labor in a Sudeten camp; abandonment by the guards in May 1945; traveling to a nearby village with another prisoner; staying with a Czech family; traveling to Budapest and Prague seeking surviving family (she was the only survivor); meeting her husband; traveling to London; and emigration to the United States. Mrs. H. discusses her wish in camp to be executed, thereby removing the option of suicide; her belief in camp that no one would survive; viewing their survival as a victory over Hitler; a woman who was ostracized after the war because she would do anything to survive; and being too preoccupied after liberation with rebuilding her life to properly mourn her family.

2 videocassettes