Katarína L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Katarína L., who was born in Bratislava, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1910. She recalls attending gymnasium; participating in a Maccabi sports club; cordial relations with non-Jews; Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria arriving in 1938; Slovak independence in March, 1939; anti-Jewish laws; helping to convey information about Auschwitz to Dr. Tibor Kovács of the Jewish rescue committee; visiting her sister in Nováky using false papers; obtaining her sister's release; exemption from deportation until 1944 due to her job; deportation with her parents and husband, deportation to Sered ̕in September 1944, then to Auschwitz in October; learning her family had been gassed; transfer to Freiberg; slave labor; two women giving birth; a group effort to care for one of the infants; evacuation to Mauthausen in March 1945; escaping with seven others; liberation by United States troops; returning to Bratislava; difficulty assimilating her family's deaths; remarriage; and her daughter's birth. Mrs. L. discusses focusing on her own survival after her family was killed; the importance to her survival of optimism and her sense of humor; attending the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz; and the graduation of the infant they helped save.

3 videocassettes