Maria O. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Maria O., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1933. She recalls a happy childhood in a prosperous family; German invasion; moving to the Warsaw ghetto in 1940; attending school; her family's move to Oz?aro?w; her father instructing her to pretend to be Christian and to memorize the Lord's Prayer; being sent to a woman, Shesha (she never saw her parents or brother again); living in L'viv; being moved to Czudec and Wola Raniz?owska; preparation for her First Communion; a priest's refusal to baptize her, but allowing her to pretend to receive First Communion; moving to Tarno?w; being taken to another town by a woman, Maria; living with a family who was unaware she was Jewish; liberation in August 1944; living with Maria in Lublin; being baptized; moving with Maria to Warsaw, then Zab?kowice S?las?kie; antisemitism from Maria's husband; moving alone to another town; living in orphanages and attending school in Szczecin and Koszalin; marriage; telling her husband she was Jewish; and emigration to the United States in 1969. Mrs. O. discusses searching for family; visiting Shesha in Israel; sharing her story with her children; and her pain because she cannot remember her mother's face.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- O., Maria, -- 1933-
Subjects
- Friendship.
- Orphanages -- Poland.
- Identification (Religion)
- Converts.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Child survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hiding.
Places
- Lwów (Poland)
- L'vov (Ukraine)
- Czudec (Poland)
- Wola Raniżowska (Poland)
- Tarnów (Województwo Małopolskie, Poland)
- Lublin (Poland)
- Koszalin (Poland)
- Warsaw ghetto.
- Za̜bkowice śla̜skie (Poland)
- Szczecin (Poland)
- Łódź (Poland)
- Ożarów (Poland)
- Lʹviv (Ukraine)
- Poland.
- Warsaw (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat