Sonia B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Sonia B., who was born in Z︠H︡ytomyr, Ukraine in 1928. She recalls German invasion; her brother's military draft; fleeing with her parents to relatives in Kotelʹnya; fleeing east; encountering Germans in Andrushevka; returning to Kotelʹnya; the hanging of her uncle after he was identified as the village head; escaping a mass shooting of Jews on August 18 (her parents were killed); returning to her grandmother's house; escaping a mass killing in December when her grandmother and aunts were murdered; her grandmother's instructions to seek revenge; hiding with assistance from Ukrainian neighbors; living for six months with Jews in Gardyshëvka; escaping when they were murdered; begging for food; being hidden by a Ukrainian woman in Verbiv (Pershotravnevoye); traveling to another town; posing as a Christian orphan; dreaming of revenge; liberation by Soviet forces; returning to Z︠H︡ytomyr; and reunion with her brother. Mrs. B. recounts serving as a witness during the trial against Nazi collaborators in Kotelʹnya; her marriage; and her daughter's birth She discusses illnesses resulting from her experiences, and reluctance to share her experiences with her daughter.
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
- B., Sonia, -- 1928-
Subjects
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mass killings.
- Child survivors.
- Revenge.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Escapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Verbiv (Ukraine)
- Andrushevka (Ukraine)
- Gardyshëvka (Ukraine)
- Staraya Kotelʹnya (Ukraine)
- Pershotravnevoye (Ukraine)
- Ukraine.
- Z︠H︡ytomyr (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat