Fira Z. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Fira Z., who was born in Shpola, Ukraine in 1925. She recalls observing Jewish holidays; attending Ukrainian school; joining Komsomol; German occupation; her family's evacuation attempt; returning when Germans overtook them; forced labor; her father's non-Jewish friend arranging to hide her brother with relatives (he survived); selections and round-ups; her father's arrest and incarceration in a labor camp near Zvenigorodka; a German policeman warning her about an upcoming mass killing; fleeing to Zlatopolʹ with her mother; obtaining a false birth certificate; escaping through the fence during a round-up in fall 1942; reunion with her mother in Shpola; hiding with her mother, then fleeing to a farm near Talʹne with assistance from her father's non-Jewish friend (she never saw her mother again); using false papers to pose as a non-Jew; working on a farm; liberation by Soviet troops in March 1943; learning her parents were killed; teaching in an orphanage; marriage; and her son's birth. Mrs. Z. notes the murder of her entire family and continuing contact with her brother's foster parents. She discusses the importance of sharing her experiences with her children and others, and the dangers of extreme nationalism.

2 videocassettes