Frances H. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Frances H., who was born in Hungary in 1918. She recalls her childhood in Moha?cs; not attending university due to anti-Jewish quotas; moving to Budapest with her family in 1935; marriage; her brother, father, and husband being drafted into Hungarian forced labor battalions; learning of her brother's death in 1943; German invasion; traveling with her mother to join her father-in-law per her husband's instructions; their arrest; incarceration in Kistarcsa; psychological devastation when her mother had to undress in front of young policemen; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau at the end of April (she never saw her mother again); the stench of burning flesh; transfer to Reichenau; good relations with young Polish prisoners; receiving extra food from a German woman to share with a friend; liberation in May 1945; returning to Budapest; reunion with her father, then her husband; aborting pregnancies because she was not strong enough physically or psychologically; her daughter's birth in 1948; emigration to Israel; leaving due to illness; living in Italy, Barcelona, and Paris; and emigration to Canada. Ms. H. discusses her daughter's protective behavior toward her; continuing pervasive fears; and ongoing friendship with her concentration camp friend.

3 videocassettes