Batya L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Batya L., who was born in Berdychiv, Ukraine in 1926. She recalls her parents' religious observances; German invasion; ghettoization in August 1941; a round-up in September; standing in line while hearing gun shots nearby; escaping (her parents and sister were killed and a brother survived); hiding with a non-Jewish friend of her brother, then with relatives in Raygorodok; being warned of a mass killing by a non-Jew; hiding with non-Jews during the killing; working in another village; moving to Samgorodok; living with and working for a pig farmer until liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Berdychiv; marriage; testifying at the war crime trial of a local policeman; and attempts to commemorate the sites of mass killings in Berdychiv. Ms. L. notes she never shared her experiences with her children until a recent documentary on the killings in Berdychiv featured her and moved them greatly (two of her children live in Israel). She discusses the Soviet stigma of having survived living under German occupation and other Jews who survived the mass killing, including Mikhail V.

2 videocassettes