Irene M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Irene M., who was born in Jano?w, Poland (presently Ivano-Frankovo, Ukraine) in 1924. She recalls her family's move to Zimna Voda; attending a Jewish school in L?viv; joining Deror; Soviet occupation; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; assistance from non-Jewish neighbors; hiding with one brother during deportations in August 1942 (she never saw her parents again); acquiring false birth certificates for them both; their flight to Krako?w, then Krosno, posing as non-Jews; refusing to follow relatives' advice to enter a labor camp; finding employment in a German store; attending her cousin's wedding in the ghetto; being brazen in encounters with suspicious Germans and Poles; attending church weekly; learning her brother was killed as a Pole in reprisal for underground activities; unsuccessfully seeking shelter in Jano?w, then L?viv; returning to Krosno in May 1944; hiding in a village as a non-Jew; and liberation by Soviet troops. Mrs. M. describes marriage in May 1945; working for the Soviets; their escape to Teplice; moving to Bensheim displaced persons camp, then Frankfurt; learning her older brother had survived in the Soviet Union; the birth of her sons; and their emigration to the United States in 1956. She discusses constant fear during the war and reluctance to share her experiences with her children.
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
- M., Irene, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- Deror (Organization : Poland)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Soviet occupation.
- Zionist organizations.
- Refugee camps.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Hiding.
- Marriage in Jewish ghettos.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
Places
- Poland.
- Ivano-Frankovo (Ukraine)
- Zimna Voda (Ukraine)
- Lʹviv (Ukraine)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Krosno (Krosno, Poland)
- Teplice (Czech Republic)
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
- Bensheim (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Janów (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat