Rae G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rae G., who was born in Minsk, Russia (presently Belarus) in 1915. She recalls moving to her grandparents' farm; attending school in Maladzechna, where her father taught music; attending college in Vilnius; Soviet occupation; moving with her parents to Maladzechna; marriage; German invasion in 1941; fleeing to her husband's parents in Oshmi︠a︡ny; arrest en route; escaping; living with her in-laws; a mass killing of Jewish men, including her husband; learning her parents, sister, and grandparents had been killed; ghettoization; transfer to the Vilna ghetto; forced labor; volunteering for transfer to Klooga; an engineer who provided false papers and helped her escape; arrest; incarceration in Tallinn; return to Klooga; a severe beating; transfer to another camp; hiding during evacuation and a mass killing in September 1944; being shot; pretending to be dead; others in hiding assisting her; liberation the next day by Soviet troops (only thirty-eight survived); returning to Vilnius; meeting her second husband; living in Landsberg displaced persons camp; working for UNRRA and the Joint; and emigration to the United States in 1947. Mrs. G. discusses a child's birth in camp; losing her faith in God; emotional difficulties after liberation realizing her whole family was killed; seldom discussing her experiences until recently; and pervasive, painful memories. She shows photographs including those taken by journalists at her liberation.
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
- G., Rae, -- 1915-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
- Klooga (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Soviet occupation.
- Husband -- Death.
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
- Faith.
- False papers.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Refugee camps.
- Jews -- Lithuania -- Vilnius.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jews -- Belarus -- Ashmi︠a︡ny.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Escapes.
Places
- Vilna ghetto.
- Oshmyany ghetto.
- Tallinn (Estonia)
- Ashmi︠a︡ny (Belarus)
- Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Maladzechna (Belarus)
- Russia.
- Minsk (Belarus)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat