Priska S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Priska S., who was born in Šahy, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1922. She recounts her parents' divorce; her mother moving to Budapest; remaining with her father; his death in 1937; becoming part of his sister's family; attending school; one cousin's emigration to England in 1937; Hungarian occupation in 1938; her other cousin's draft into a slave labor battalion; going to Budapest for professional training; frequently coming home to Šahy; German invasion in 1944; ghettoization; being beaten by those seeking valuables; deportation in May to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her aunt (she never saw her again); learning her mother was there; seeing her several times; sharing water with other prisoners, with whom she remained until liberation; transfer to Ravensbrück after two or three months, then to Neustadt bei Coburg a few weeks later; improved conditions; slave labor in a factory; a death march in early April; escaping with others in Czechoslovakia; a local man hiding and feeding them; liberation by United States troops; traveling to Plzeň, then Prague; finding her uncle who raised her critically ill in Theresienstadt; his death; traveling to Bratislava, then Šahy; finding no surviving relatives; living in her aunt's and uncle's home; marriage; and the births of her sons. She notes most of the survivors emigrated; continuing contact with her closest friend from Auschwitz; and sharing her experiences with her children and grandchildren.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- S., Priska, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Ravensbrück (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Jews -- Slovakia -- Šahy.
- Death marches.
- Forced labor.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Escapes.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Šahy ghetto.
- Neustadt bei Coburg (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Šahy (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Plzeň (Czech Republic)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat