Esther M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Esther M., who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1930. She recalls anti-Jewish regulations after the war began, including expulsion from school and wearing the star; hearing of concentration camps; her parents hiding with a non-Jewish business colleague and hiding her and her sister with a non-Jewish neighbor; visits from her mother (she had false papers so could go out); joining their parents; placement in a convent; being moved to another convent when other children became suspicious; writing letters to their parents through an intermediary; retrieval by their mother after the war; their emigration to Israel in 1948; happiness at not feeling ashamed of being Jewish; marriage to an American in 1955; and emigrating to the United States. Ms. M. discusses phobias resulting from the war years; her lost youth; and frequent visits to Israel. She shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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., Esther, -- 1930-
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Hiding.
- Child survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Sisters.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Fathers and daughters.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Postwar effects.
- Convents.
- False papers.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Belgium.
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Israel.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat