Michele P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Michele P., who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1932. She recalls her orthodox home; she and her brother accompanying their mother to the family store; German occupation; her father's arrest (she never saw him again); being hidden on a farm in Marche-en-Famenne in 1943, posing as a niece; sexual abuse by the grandfather; visiting her mother, who was hidden at a neighboring farm; her mother returning to Brussels to hide (she was denounced and deported); liberation by United States troops; living in an orphanage with her brother; and their emigration to Canada in 1947, and to the United States in 1950. Mrs. P. reflects on reluctance to share her experiences with her children due to her shame at being sexually abused; her wealthy aunt and grandmother who paid for their hiding; her own guilt that her mother was caught; and her lost childhood. She shows photographs and documents.
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
- P., Michele -- 1932-
Subjects
- Mothers and daughters.
- Child sexual abuse.
- Orphanages -- Belgium.
- Child survivors.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
Places
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Canada.
- Belgium.
- Marche-en-Famenne (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat