Janine K. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2158
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Janine K., who was born in 1921. She recalls living in Paris; her parents' divorce; living with her mother; Jewish holiday and Sabbath observances at her grandmother's; German occupation; fleeing to a village outside Paris; working as a nanny for a farmer (her parents had been deported separately and did not return); denunciation; imprisonment with criminals; transfer to Drancy; reunion with her brother; their deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation by gender; slave labor while freezing in winter and burning from the sun in summer; long appels; her belief that she would survive; social divisions by class and nationalities; "stealing" apples; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; living in tents; transfer to the French block; solidarity among French prisoners; singing the "Marseillaise" on July 14th; being beaten by a block leader; numerous daily deaths from typhus; contracting typhus and dysentery; liberation; recuperation in a British hospital; repatriation to France; reunion with her brother; and marriage in 1950. Mrs. K. notes her postwar nervous breakdown; difficulty discussing her experiences, even with her brother, husband, and children; frequent nightmares; and losing her belief in religion, although identifying as a Jew.

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

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

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.