Adele J. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Adele J., who was born in Belgium in 1936, the youngest of three children. She recalls the family's unsuccessful attempt to escape to Switzerland after German invasion in 1940; their internments in Rivesaltes, Brens, and Gurs between 1940-1943; her father working as a carpenter and her mother working in the kitchen in Rivesaltes; her father hiding to escape deportation; being smuggled out of Rivesaltes by the OSE into Switzerland with her siblings and other children in June 1943; three months in a detention camp; and living in a children's home. She describes not recognizing her mother when they were reunited with their parents in Brussels; settling in Antwerp; emigrating to the United States in 1958; and attending a gathering of hidden children. She reflects upon her childhood impression of always being surrounded by wire fences and her yearning for freedom.
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
- J., Adele, -- 1936-
Corporate Bodies
- Gurs (Concentration camp)
- World Union OSE.
- Rivesaltes (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Orphanages.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Parent and child.
- Child survivors.
- Escapes.
Places
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Belgium.
- Brens (France : Internment camp)
- Switzerland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat