Fela W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Fela W., who was born in Ozorko?w, Poland in 1926. She recalls her family's Hasidism; being mocked by non-Jews; German invasion; anti-Jewish violence; one SS man providing help for her family; a public hanging of Jewish young men; ghettoization; transfer with her family to the ?o?dz? ghetto; forced labor; deportation to Auschwitz; separation from her family except her sister; transfer a few days later to Poppenbu?ttel-Sasel (Hamburg); clearing rubble from Allied bombings; transfer nine months later to a POW camp; treatment for blood poisoning by a prisoner doctor; train transport to Bergen-Belsen; losing her will to live; liberation by British troops; a two month recovery; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage; her daughter's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1951. Mrs. W. discusses the importance to her survival of being with her sister; a trip to Poland with her younger daughter in 1978; speaking to schools about her experience; her continuing relationship with friends from Bergen-Belsen; loss of belief in God after the war; and eventual return to Judaism knowing her parents would have wanted that. 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
- W., Fela, -- 1926-2006.
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Sasel (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Ozorków.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Sisters.
- Refugee camps.
- Faith.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Child survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
Places
- Poland.
- Ozorków ghetto.
- Ozorków (Poland)
- Feldafing (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Łódź ghetto.
- Poppenbüttel-Sasel (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat