Esther G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Esther G., who was born in Kishinev, Romania (presently Chișinău, Moldova) in 1924, one of four children. She recounts her family's orthodoxy; attending public school; Soviet occupation; her twin's death in 1939; her father's death in 1940; German invasion; fleeing with her mother and brothers; walking for three months; separation from her older brother; living a week with a Ukrainian villager; Romanian soldiers confiscating her mother's valuables; arrival at Berezivka; finding her older brother; transfer to Domanevka, then Bogdanovka; hearing shots from a mass killing; her brother's murder; separation from her mother; bribing a guard to escape execution; assignment sorting belongings of victims; finding her mother; caring for her; guards shooting her; supporting a sick friend (she witnessed her brutal murder); collecting food from villagers; wounds on her feet preventing her from working; others bringing her food; assignment reburying corpses from a mass grave; liberation by Soviet troops; testifying to the Soviets about Bogdanovka; and emigration to Israel in 1973. Ms. G. discusses constant fear in Bogdanovka; testifying at a war crimes trial in Odesa; visits to the still-open mass grave in Bogdanovka; lobbying officials to have it closed; her deep sense of loneliness and pervasive fears due to her memories; and her son's inability to understand her.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- G., Esther, -- 1926-
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Mothers and daughters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- War crime trials -- Ukraine.
- Child survivors.
- Soviet occupation.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Friendship.
- Postwar effects.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mass killings.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Romania.
- Berezivka (Ukraine : Concentration camp)
- Bogdanovka (Ukraine : Concentration camp)
- Domanivka (Ukraine : Concentration camp)
- Odesa (Ukraine)
- Chișinău (Moldova)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat