Elly G. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Elly G., who was born in Simleul-Silvaniei, Romania in 1929. She recalls her brother's birth in 1939; Hungarian occupation in 1940; anti-Jewish laws; her father's draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion (they never saw him again); ghettoization in spring 1944; a woman giving birth and a man dying during transport to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her mother and brother (she never saw them again); remaining with a cousin; her cousin getting her a privileged kitchen job; transfer to another camp; slave labor in a factory; illness from fumes in the factory (she still suffers from lung ailments as a result); transfer to Salzwedel; liberation by United States troops; recuperating in Hillersleben; traveling to Oradea, then Marghita; reunion with cousins; assistance from the Red Cross and Joint; returning home; realizing her parents and brother were dead; marriage in 1946; living in Oradea; the births of her children; and emigrating to the United States in 1966. Ms. G. discusses pervasive, painful memories; blaming herself for her mother's death because she parted from her in Auschwitz; not sharing her experience with her children until they were adults; and a recent visit to Auschwitz. She shows photographs and documents.

2 videocassettes