Edith L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Edith L., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1926. She recalls the Anschluss; Kristallnacht; her father's deportation in 1939 (she never saw him again); her mother's arrest, then hers in 1941; their release; deportation with her mother, aunt, and grandmother to Theresienstadt in October 1942; seeking "normalcy" in cultural and social activities, despite starvation, disease, and deportations; strained relations between national groups; meeting her future husband; deportation with her mother to Auschwitz/Birkenau in May 1944; living in the family camp, then a woman's lager; transfer to Stutthof in July; forced labor on a German farm; improved food; contacts with British and Soviet POWs; returning to Stuthoff; the death march; deciding with her mother not to continue; being found; incarceration in Kokoszki; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling from Gdansk to Bratislava, Prague, Theresienstadt, and Vienna seeking relatives and her boyfriend; learning her grandmother had died in Theresienstadt after liberation; reunion with her boyfriend; traveling to Deggendorf displaced persons with him and others; marriage in December; her mother's emigration to the United States; following two weeks later; and her mother's death two years later. Ms. L. discusses separation anxiety and nightmares resulting from her experiences and the importance to her survival of being with her mother. 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
- L., Edith, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Stutthof (Concentration camp)
- Deggendorf (Displaced persons camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Death marches.
- Prisoners of war -- Germany.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Child survivors.
- Nightmares.
- Refugee camps.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Kokoszki (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Austria -- History -- Anschluss, 1938.
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Gdansk (Poland)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Austria.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat