Zoe R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Zoe R., who was born in Cluj, Romania in 1925, an only child. She recounts her parents' divorce when she was three; attending the school of a Neolog synagogue; participating in Hashomer Hatzair; Hungarian occupation; antisemitic legislation; German invasion in spring 1944; round-up with her mother to a building with thousands of other Jews; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her mother (she never saw her again); fellow prisoners holding her when she fainted during an appell; frequent selections; transfer to Frankfurt; slave labor for Organisation Todt; brief hospitalization; transfer six weeks later to the RavensbruĚck tent camp, then Zillerthal; slave labor in a textile factory; receiving sugar from the Red Cross at Christmas; transfer to Nordhausen; slave labor in a munitions factory; sabotaging production; writing poetry; a death march to Morgenstern; escaping with four others; a German soldier bringing them food; capture by a SS man; escaping again; liberation by United States troops; convalescing on a farm; traveling to Namur; living in Jambes, Dave, and Brussels; learning an uncle had survived; marriage to a survivor; the births of two children; and learning her father was in Israel. Ms. R. discusses sharing her experiences with her husband in front of their children; pervasive painful memories and nightmares; visiting Cluj in 1962, of which she has fond memories despite not receiving help from the non-Jews there; and her husband's death at a young age.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- R., Zoe, -- 1925-
Corporate Bodies
- World Hashomer Hatzair.
- RavensbruĚck (Concentration camp)
- Organisation Todt (Germany)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Nordhausen (Concentration camp)
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Subjects
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Sabotage.
- Death marches.
- Poetry.
- Escapes.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Nightmares.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Postwar effects.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
Places
- Jambes (Belgium)
- Dave (Belgium)
- Morgenstern (Germany)
- Namur (Belgium)
- Zillerthal-Erdmannsdorf (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Romania.
- Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat