Helga S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Helga S. who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932. She recounts Kristallnacht; being sent on a children's transport to England with her brother in March 1939; living in Nottingham with relatives; moving to Oxford after the war began to avoid German bombing; mistreatment by her host family; living with an aunt in London; attending boarding school; her brother's accidental death in 1942; her mother's subsequent breakdown while interned in France; her father's emigration to Shanghai; reuniting with her parents in Paris in 1947; their inability to connect emotionally ("we were three pillars of misery"); beatings by her father; and their emigration to the United States in 1953. Mrs. S. discusses her pervasive separation anxiety and difficulties raising her children due to her traumatic experiences as a child. She shows photographs.
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
- S., Helga, -- 1932-.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Kindertransports (Rescue operations)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Child survivors.
- Survivor-child relations.
Places
- Paris (France)
- London (England)
- Oxford (England)
- Germany.
- Nottingham (England)
- Berlin (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat