Chana S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Chana S., who was born in Kalisz, Poland in 1922. She recalls her older sister; a large extended family; increased antisemitism beginning in 1932; her sister's husband's military draft; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; fleeing to Warsaw with her parents, sister, and her children; ghettoization; her sister's family escaping; her father's death; observing Janus Korczak leading his orphanage to deportation; hiding during round-ups; separation from her mother (she never saw her again); caring for a child; surrendering during the uprising when they were burned out; a soldier killing the child she had cared for; deportation to Majdanek; the births of two babies; meaningless slave labor; public hangings; singing to raise morale; wanting to commit suicide; transfer to Skarz?ysko-Kamienna, then Cze?stochowa; slave labor in a HASAG munitions factory; receiving extra food from her father's friend; hiding during evacuation; liberation; traveling to ?o?dz?; marriage; antisemitic violence; traveling to Italy; her children's births; hearing from her sister who survived with her husband in the Soviet Union (their children perished); locating her aunt through the Red Cross; and emigrating to join her in the United States. Mrs. S. notes she did not discuss her experiences with her children and the futility of trying to convey what she went through. 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., Chana, -- 1922-
- Korczak, Janusz, -- 1878-1942.
Corporate Bodies
- Skarżysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)
- Majdanek (Concentration camp)
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Częstochowa (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Hiding.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Forced labor.
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
Places
- Kalisz (Poland)
- Poland.
- Warsaw (Poland) -- History -- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943.
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Italy.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Warsaw ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat