Paulina R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Paulina R., who was born in Veškovce, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1922, the youngest of ten children. She recalls her father was a Talmud scholar; cordial relations with non-Jews; commuting to high school in Uz︠h︡horod; Hungarian occupation; the school principal accommodating the Jewish students despite anti-Jewish laws; the draft of two brothers into Hungarian slave labor battalions; her father's death in 1940; round-up with her family to a brick factory in Uz︠h︡horod; deportation to Auschwitz; separation from her mother and sisters' children upon arrival (they never saw them again); she and three sisters trying to seem unrelated in order to stay together; slave labor digging trenches; hospitalization; prisoners' singing giving her hope; a death march; her sisters insisting she continue when she wanted to remain behind to be killed; locals providing food for them in Domažlice; an Allied bombing; escaping to a village; locals sheltering and feeding them until liberation; hospitalization in Prachatice for three months; American soldiers giving her medication; moving to Prague with her sister; entering university; her sister's emigration to Israel in 1948; and teaching in Topol̕čany beginning in 1953. Ms. R. discusses believing she would not survive after she was deported; the importance of her sisters to her survival; painful memories, particularly that of the loss of her mother, resulting in nightmares for many years; and not sharing her story with others, but acknowledging the need to remember.
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. This testimony or excerpts from it cannot be published withour prior permission of the donor or her heirs.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- R., Paulina, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Sisters.
- Forced labor.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Hospitals in concentration camps.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Nightmares.
- Escapes.
- Concentration camps -- Songs and music.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Death marches.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Uz︠h︡horod (Ukraine)
- Veškovce (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Topol̕čany (Slovakia)
- Domažlice (Czech Republic)
- Prachatice (Czech Republic)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat