Hela U. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Hela U., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1925. She recalls her Orthodox family; German invasion in September 1939; two older brothers' Polish military service for six weeks; fleeing briefly to G?o?wno; returning to ?o?dz?; ghettoization; forced labor; one brother's death from a beating in June 1941; her father and second brother dying in January 1942; trying to keep her mother alive despite her resignation; her death in June 1942; living for her younger brother; hiding him prior to a selection (he was only eleven); assistance from a ghetto policeman; her brother nursing her through an illness; their deportation to Auschwitz in August 1944; separation from her brother upon arrival (she never saw him again); transfer to Birkenau; frequent selections; transfer to Harburg, then Poppenbuettel-Sasel; a death march to Bergen-Belsen in March 1945; and liberation by British troops. Mrs. U. recounts marriage; her daughter's birth; moving to Paris in 1947; emigration to Argentina to join her husband's brother; her second daughter's birth; conveying details of their murdered families to their children; and her husband's death in 1970. She emphasizes the importance of her daughters' emotional support and shows family photographs.

2 videocassettes