Vera Z. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Vera Z., who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1925. She recalls attending Lithuanian school; Lithuanian friends; Soviet occupation; Lithuanian violence against Jews prior to the arrival of German troops; a Lithuanian neighbor who saved them; her father's death in a mass shooting at the Seventh Fort; ghettoization; hiding her younger sister during round-ups; forced labor; escaping and staying with Lithuanian friends during mass killings; a Jewish policeman saving them from selection; hiding during deportations after warnings from the policeman; smuggling food for her family; a Lithuanian friend giving her her passport which saved her life many times; working on farms posing as a non-Jew; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Kaunas; learning the ghetto had been burned (her mother and sister had hidden there); assistance from Lithuanian friends; attending university in Moscow; and her career in Kaunas. Ms. Z. notes one son emigrated to the United States; visiting him; her other son and husband remaining in Kaunas; and difficulty deciding whether to emigrate. She discusses spitting on a Lithuanian after the war who had tried to expose her as a Jew; her pervasive memories; and the impossibility of conveying her experiences in a few hours. 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
- Z., Vera, -- 1925-
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Postwar experiences.
- False papers.
- Kovno ghetto.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Mass killings.
- Forced labor.
- Jews, Lithuanian -- Kaunas.
- Revenge.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
Places
- Kaunas (Lithuania)
- Lithuania.
- Moscow (Russia)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat