Gisela W. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2079
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Gisela W., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1925. She recalls her family's wealthy, assimilated life; antisemitic vandalism; attending a private girls' school; expulsion as a Jew; attending the American school; living with an uncle in the Hague (her brother had been sent to England); visiting family in Stuttgart; living with an aunt in Switzerland; staying in a hotel in Lugano; moving with her parents to Amsterdam in April 1939; attending Dutch school; German invasion; obtaining permission to leave through her uncle, who headed the Warburg Bank in Holland; leaving with her parents in March 1941; train travel with about forty people to Portugal via Brussels, Paris, and San Sebasti?an; being struck by the poverty in Spain; travel by ship to New York via Cuba in June 1941; living in a house on the Warburg estate in White Plains; attending high school and college; and marriage to another German refugee. Mrs. W. discusses her career as a social worker, which she attributes to her experiences in Spain; reluctance to visit Germany; rediscovering a part of herself when she recently went there; and feeling her experience impacted her daughter.

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

  • W., Gisela, -- 1925-

Subjects

  • Survivor-child relations.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Postwar effects.
  • Child survivors.
  • Antisemitism -- Prewar.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Women.
  • Video tapes.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
  • Jews -- Migrations.
  • Refugees, Jewish.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
  • Holocaust survivors.

Places

  • Germany.
  • Berlin (Germany)
  • Portugal.
  • San Sebastían (Spain)
  • Paris (France)
  • Brussels (Belgium)
  • Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • Lugano (Switzerland)
  • Stuttgart (Germany)
  • Hague (Netherlands)

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.