Celine P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Celine P., who was born in Zgierz, Poland, one of four children. She recalls her family's affluence; visiting relatives in Warsaw; a close and large extended family; attending a Polish school; antisemitic harassment; German invasion in September 1939; her father's flight east; exemption from deportation due to an uncle sending foreign visas to her, her mother, and siblings; assistance from a former nanny who worked for the Gestapo; transport to Belgium via Berlin; reunion with their uncle who had arranged their emigration; traveling to Paris where "everything was back to normal"; moving to Montrabe?; attending a Catholic school; German invasion; her mother's death from cancer in June 1942; placement in a convent with assistance from her uncle's associate; a Jewish organization supplying them with false papers; their transfer to northern France in 1944; living in a home for children whose families had tuberculosis; liberation by United States troops in August 1944; returning to Paris; resuming her studies; difficulties concentrating after confirmation of her father's death; emigration to the United States in 1952; and marriage in 1958. Ms. P. notes many kind French people to whom she attributes her and her family's survival; receiving letters from her father until December 1940; continuing contact with her nanny; and visiting Poland in 1989.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- P., Celine, -- 1928-
Subjects
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Child survivors.
- Orphanages -- France.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Convents.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
Places
- Zgierz (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Paris (France)
- MontrabeĚ (France)
- Belgium.
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat