Helena S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Helena S., a Catholic Romani, who was born in Snina, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1923. She recalls her family's poverty, working for a Jewish woman from age nine to seventeen; deportation of the Jews, including her employer who gave her extra food; marriage; moving to another village; deportation by Germans to Humenné, then to Dubnica in the summer; separation from the men; their assignment to forced labor; the women being confined to barracks; starvation; escaping with others during the winter; a one-month walk back to Snina; kind people assisting them en route with food and lodgings; finding their homes destroyed; the births of six children; and her husband's death at a young age. Ms. S. discusses visiting Dubnica after the war, and not receiving equal compensation for her time in the concentration camp compared to that of former prisoners in the Czech Republic.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony can only be viewed at Yale by Yale faculty and/or students.
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 used for publication.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- S., Helena, -- 1923-
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Romanies.
- Escapes.
- Concentration camp inmates.
- Romanies -- Slovakia -- History -- 20th century.
- Romanies -- Nazi persecution -- Slovakia.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Romani.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Slovak.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Dubnica (Slovakia : Concentration camp)
- Humenné (Slovakia)
- Snina (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat