Irene P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Irene P., who was born in Paris, France in 1931. She recounts living in Montreuil; French naturalization at age five; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; her father's incarceration in Drancy in 1941 (he did not return); her older brother's placement in a Catholic children's home; being warned by a non-Jewish policeman in July 1942 of an impending round-up; her mother and younger sister going into hiding; staying with her grandmother; their arrest; a non-Jewish policeman (her friend's father) obtaining their release; finding her mother; her mother and sister illegally crossing to the unoccupied zone; being smuggled with her grandmother to Lyon; living briefly in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon; her grandfather's arrival; her grandmother's death; joining her mother and sister at a farm in La Souterraine; attending school in Saint-Sulpice-les-Feuilles; her grandfather's arrest; visiting him; his release; placement by OSE with her sister in a children's home in Le Coudray-Saint-Germer; brief transfer to a home in Chinon during German searches for downed Allied pilots; being brought to Sèvres after the war; and reunion with her mother, grandfather, and brother. Ms. P. recalls illegal immigration to Palestine on the "Exodus"; interception by the British; return to Europe; being forced to stay on board in Port-de-Bouc; incarceration in Lübeck, then Hameln; assistance from the Red Cross; joining her mother and siblings in Israel in 1948; emigration to the United States in 1955; marriage; and belonging to a "Hidden Child" group. She shows photographs.
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., Irene, -- 1931-
Corporate Bodies
- Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Exodus 1947 (Ship)
- World Union OSE.
Subjects
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Child survivors.
- Orphanages -- France.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Sisters.
- Grandparent and child.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
Places
- Israel.
- Hameln (Germany)
- Port-de-Bouc (France)
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- Lübeck (Germany)
- Hamburg (Germany)
- France.
- Paris (France)
- Montreuil (France)
- La Souterraine (France : Canton)
- Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (France)
- Lyon (France)
- Sèvres (France)
- Chinon (France)
- Le Coudray-Saint-Germer (France)
- Saint-Sulpice-les-Feuilles (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat