Klára S. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Klára S., who was born in Trebišov, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1935, the younger of two daughters. She recalls her father's dental practice; their exemption from deportation due to her father's practice; deportation with her family to Žilina in 1942; their release, with assistance from friends and bribes, to Horní Jelenec; support from the local priest and people; moving to Staré Hory where her father practiced; conversion to Catholicism; obtaining false documents; increased danger during the Slovak uprising; her father and others building bunkers; hiding with a group of Jews during conflicts between Germans and partisans; her father caring for injured partisans; discovery by a Hungarian unit; a German officer convincing them to release the Jews; liberation by Soviet troops at the end of 1944; returning home; finding all their possessions gone; moving to her maternal grandparents' home in Lučenec (they had been deported and killed); reunion with a cousin and uncle who had survived the camps; moving to Bratislava by herself at age fifteen; marriage, and emigration to the United States in 1968. Ms. S. discusses her conflicts between Judaism and Catholicism; sharing her story with her children; attributing her family's survival to the villagers with whom they lived and hid; and recording this testimony during a trip to Slovakia.

1 videocassette