Paulette S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Paulette S., who was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1932, to immigrants from eastern Europe. She recalls a happy childhood; moving to Brussels; summer vacations in Knocke-sur-Mer; attending public school; German invasion; an unsuccessful escape attempt; her brother's birth; her father deciding they should go into hiding; living with a Catholic family in Waterloo; splitting up the family; hiding in Ghent, in an Ursuline convent in Brussels, with several families, and finally with two unmarried sisters, all arranged by a Franciscan priest; a brief visit with her mother; liberation in 1945; retrieval by her mother; her parents' difficulty retrieving her brother from his foster parents (they wanted to adopt him); attending school in Brussels; caring for her brother; antisemitism in school; companionship in Maccabi; emigration to the United States in 1952 via Paris to join relatives; marriage in 1955; the births of her daughters; and her parents' emigration to Israel. Ms. S. discusses her sense of loss, abandonment and loneliness during the war and to the present time; visiting Belgium with her husband and again with her daughter; admiring those who risked their lives to save her; and gratitude for her wonderful family. She shows photographs.
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
- S., Paulette, -- 1932-
Corporate Bodies
- Maccabi World Union.
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Child survivors.
- Postwar effects.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Fathers and daughters.
- Family.
- Convents.
Places
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Belgium.
- Knocke-sur-Mer (Belgium)
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Waterloo (Belgium)
- Ghent (Belgium)
- Paris (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat