Leah P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Leah P., who was born in Rafalivka, Poland (presently Ukraine) in 1918, one of five children. She recounts the deaths of her father and one brother; another brother's emigration to Argentina; attending an ORT school in Kovelʹ for three years; returning home; increasing antisemitism in the 1930s; participating in Hashomer Hatzair and Betar; marriage in 1939; Soviet occupation; her son's birth in 1940; German invasion; fleeing to the forest with her son; a local German hiding them; returning home; ghettoization; a Ukrainian guard helping her mother, son, and sister escape; her sister's capture; hiding with non-Jews (they had to leave after several weeks); her mother returning home to look for valuables, her capture, and murder; living with non-Jews in several villages; her husband sending for her and her son (her sisters remained behind); hiding with non-Jews on the "Aryan" side, then with villagers; joining a partisan unit; working as a cook; hiding with a non-Jewish family (the partisans provided food); returning to Rafalivka, then crossing into Soviet territory; and traveling to Kiev and Bila T︠S︡erkva, where they found work. Ms. P. notes learning after the war that her two sisters had been killed.
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
- P., Leah, -- 1918-
Corporate Bodies
- World Hashomer Hatzair.
- Betar.
- World ORT Union.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Husband and wife.
- Soviet occupation.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Ukraine.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance.
- Escapes.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Rafalivka.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Mothers and sons.
- Partisans.
- Forests.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
Places
- Kovelʹ (Ukraine)
- Rafalivka (Manevyt︠s︡ʹkyĭ raĭon, Ukraine)
- Poland.
- Rafalivka ghetto.
- Kiev (Ukraine)
- Bila T︠S︡erkva (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat