Perla B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Perla B., who was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1925. She recalls her mother had converted from Catholicism to marry her father; their affluence and orthodoxy; destruction of their apartment during German bombing in April 1941; assistance from Serb friends; her father registering as a Jew (her mother was exempt as a born Catholic and she was exempt due to her age); her father's incarceration in Topovske Šupe; visiting him there; his deportation in November (they never saw him again); her mother obtaining documents proving her family had been Catholic for 200 years, thus exempting her (Perla) from deportation; baptism in 1942; working as a babysitter; her mother working in the Italian embassy, and obtaining a job for her there; the ambassador's wife helping many Jews escape; the ambassador's transfer when the Germans found out; remaining in the embassy; liberation; and she and her mother working for the Jewish cafeteria. Ms. B. notes she never converted back to Judaism since her baptism was invalid; she and her mother observing Jewish holidays; continuing gratitude to Serbs who helped them; anger that Topovske Šupe is not marked or memorialized; and the fates of many Jewish relatives.

2 videocassettes