Ida G. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Ida G., who was born in Paris, France in 1929. She recalls her parents placing her with a French family in Deux-Se?vres in 1940; warm relations with her foster mother; visiting her parents before her mother's arrest on July 16, 1942 (she never saw her again); arrest on January 30, 1944; interrogation by French police in Melle; her foster mother's unsuccessful efforts to free her using false papers; transfer to Niort, then Drancy; deportation to Birkenau in February 1944; working in a munitions factory; transfer to Auschwitz in October 1944; public hanging of the women who smuggled gun powder for the crematorium uprising; learning her father was in Auschwitz; futile efforts to see him (she never succeeded); the death march to Ravensbru?ck; evacuation to Neustadt; disappearance of German guards; visits from her brother and foster mother; learning her parents did not return; recuperating in Switzerland; and returning to Paris. Mrs. G. discusses aspects of concentration camp life, the importance of establishing personal bonds, intergroup relations, complete humiliation, and loss of dignity. She notes gradually sharing her experiences with her daughter.

2 videocassettes