Helen D. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Helen W., who was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1929. She recounts her parents' divorce when she was about two; living with her paternal grandparents in Proste?jov, Czechoslovakia; her father's weekly visits; a close relationship with her non-Jewish governess; attending public school; cordial relations with non-Jews; celebrating Easter and Christmas as "national" holidays; attending synagogue; a close relationship with her uncle; her father moving funds out of Austria after the Anschluss and obtaining documents for the United States for himself and her; her grandparents refusing to let her accompany him; German occupation; her family hiding valuables from Nazi searches; difficulty obtaining documents to leave for the United States; her uncle and governess taking her to Prague to obtain them; her governess accompanying her to Bremerhaven; and the captain handing her over to her father upon landing. Ms. W. discusses writing her memories at age twelve; her uncle surviving concentration camps; futile efforts to locate her governess; visiting Proste?jov with her husband in 1985; and seeing her mother once (she was in Canada during the war, remarried, and returned to Vienna).

1 videocassette