Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 2,661 to 2,680 of 4,487
Holding Institution: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
  1. Lois and Abraham J. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Lois J., who was born in a small town near Vilna, Poland in 1927, and her husband Abraham J., who was born in a small town in Poland in 1921. Mrs. J. discusses prewar Jewish life in her home town; the Russian occupation in 1939; the German takeover in 1941 and the ensuing anti-Jewish legislation; ghettoization of her town and conditions under German rule; and her escape into the forest, where she lived with a group of 300 partisans and refugees from other ghettos. Mr. J. describes family life before the war; the displacement of his family following Russian occupation;...

  2. Henri B. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Henri B., who was born in Paris in 1926. He describes the antisemitism he encountered as an apprentice jockey before the war; his escape to southern, unoccupied France when the Jews of Paris were ordered to assemble for deportation; and his detention in and escape from the internment camp at Rivesaltes. He also tells of his life in hiding on a French farm and his activities in the French underground, where, because of his small size, he was trained and employed to work with explosives. Mr. B. speaks with great emotion about his attempts to remember his Jewishness whil...

  3. Alexander G. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Alexander G., who was born in Nové Mesto nad Vahom, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Slovakia) in 1914, one of four children. He recounts his father leaving when he was only a year and a half; their abject poverty; joining his brother in Bratislava in 1928 as a barber's apprentice; playing on a Maccabi soccer team; military draft in 1936; postings in Piešt̕any and Solivar; discharge in 1939; formation of the Slovak state which promulgated anti-Jewish laws; arrest by Hlinka guards in 1942; incarceration in Žilina and Vhyne; working as a barber; liberation by par...

  4. Rachel Z. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Rachel Z., who was born in Zamość, Poland in 1931, one of three children. She recounts attending first grade in a Polish school; German invasion; briefly fleeing with her family to a nearby village; returning home; ghettoization; moving to an aunt's home in Szcelatyn; a round-up to Grabowiec; the family being chosen for farm work by a German farmer who knew them; her parents paying a farmer to hide her and her younger brother; overhearing that all the Jews had been killed; the farmer telling them he was taking them to their parents; jumping from the horse carriage e...

  5. Fanny S. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Fanny S., who was born in Paris, France in 1925, one of six children. She describes attending public school; cordial relations with non-Jews; taking care of her two younger siblings; evacuation with her family to Maine-et-Loire and Louroux-Be?connais when the war began; their return to Paris after German occupation in 1940; expulsion from school due to anti-Jewish laws; her youngest brother and sister being hidden by a non-Jew they had met in Louroux-Be?connais; arrest of her mother and two siblings in the Ve?lodrome d'hiver round-up; neighbors suggesting they hide; h...

  6. Donia W. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Donia W., who was born in Russia. She was a witness at the Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt in 1964 and has written several books about her wartime experiences. Active in the French Resistance during the war, she was arrested in France and deported to Auschwitz. She describes the journey to Auschwitz in cattle cars, the selections upon arrival, conditions in Auschwitz, and her experiences in the camp. Since she worked in the Political Department, which gave her greater knowledge of the killings and other activities, she was certain that she would never be permitted to su...

  7. Zsuzsanna O. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Zsuzsanna O., who was born in Subotica, Yugoslavia in 1934. She recounts living in Be?ke?scsaba until 1941; moving to Budapest; spending Jewish holidays with her grandfather in Subotica; rumors of atrocities against Jews; her beloved uncle's draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion in 1941 (he was killed); German invasion in 1944; anti-Jewish restrictions, including the yellow star; ghettoization; her non-Jewish governess hiding her family's belongings and providing food; her father's deportation in October; his return several weeks later; Allied bombings; her gov...

  8. Pearl B. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Pearl B., who was born in Rozwado?w, Poland in 1921. She recalls attending school in Jastkowice; her mother's death when she was five; her father's remarriage; cordial relations with non-Jews; her oldest brother's emigration to the United States in 1939; German invasion; many fleeing to the Soviet zone; obtaining food illegally from local Poles; hiding family valuables with Polish neighbors; her father's and brother's deportation to a labor camp; their release after six months; being beaten by two Ukrainians; receiving help from a former teacher; a round-up of Jews in...

  9. George S. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of George S., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland, in 1927. He describes childhood memories of antisemitism; his family's multi-generational association with textile dyeing; his father's initial belief that German antisemitism would be no worse than that in prewar Poland; the ghettoization of ?o?dz?; and his impressions of H?ayim Rumkowski. He recalls ghetto conditions including constant hunger, indiscriminate shootings, mass deportations, and the killing of most of his relatives; his arrest by the Jewish police for smuggling; liquidation of the ghetto in 1944; and deportatio...

  10. Dobka W. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Dobka W., who was born in Golice, Poland in approximately 1920. She recounts marriage in 1939; fleeing with her husband to Khodoriv, then Buchach during the German invasion; Soviet occupation; moving to Vilnius via Lida and Eis?is?ke?s, where local Jews assisted them; German invasion in June 1941; escaping as a non-Jew; finding her husband; living near Trakai until February 1943; moving to the Vilna ghetto; forced relocation to Ries?e?; public hangings; separation from her husband; deportation to Kaiserwald; slave labor for A.E.G.; volunteering for difficult jobs to o...

  11. Kurt G. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Kurt G., who was born in Krefeld, Germany in 1927. He relates his family's German identity and having lived there since the Middle Ages; few memories of his father who died; attending a Jewish school; moving to Mülheim in 1934; his next older brother being sent to Scotland; antisemitic harassment in school; his oldest brother evading arrest on Kristallnacht; expulsion from school; shopping since he looked Aryan; placement on a Kindertransport in spring 1939; painful departure from his mother and brother; traveling to London; joining his brother in a Jewish orphanage ...

  12. Eugene H. and Louis H. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Eugene and Louis H., who moved to Courbevoie, France in 1930. They recall growing up in Paris; fleeing south after the German invasion in 1940; living with friends for two months; returning to Paris; joining FTP-MOI in 1941; using false papers to move with his parents to another apartment; blowing up German facilities; arrest with their parents on December 28, 1942; separation from their mother at the police station; Eugene H.'s separation from his father and brother when they were transferred to Cherche-Midi; interrogations and beatings; the three of them being trans...

  13. Joseph B. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Joseph B., who was born in Lemberg, Austria (presently L?viv, Ukraine) in 1907. Mr. B. recalls his family's affluence; pervasive antisemitism; three years of Polish military service; marriage; the births of two daughters; Soviet occupation; German invasion; ghettoization; a leadership role on the Judenrat; teaching his daughters to assume Christian identities; leaving his younger daughter in a park, hoping non-Jews would take her in; hiding his wife and older daughter; liquidation of the ghetto; transfer to Janowska; learning that his wife and older daughter were kill...

  14. Larry F. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Larry F., who was born in Cluj, Romania in 1931, the youngest of four children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; Hungarian occupation in 1940; anti-Jewish restrictions; his father's draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion (they never saw him again); German invasion in spring 1944; incarceration in a brick factory; a non-Jewish neighbor bringing them food; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; remaining with his brother; a veteran prisoner telling them to say they were older, which saved their lives; disbelief when he was told of gas chambers and crematoria; transf...

  15. Jacqueline E. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Jacqueline E., who was born in Paris in 1915. She describes growing up in a middle class family, stressing the absence of antisemitism before the war; moving with her parents to Vichy after the outbreak of war; the French army's surrender and the entrance of the Germans into Vichy; and her marriage in 1940 and move with her husband to the south of France in 1941. She recounts helping foreign Jews to smuggle across the Spanish border; the Italian occupation in 1942; her and her husband's move to a town near the Italian border, where they obtained false papers; and her ...

  16. Ismar R. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Ismar R., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1926. He recounts his father's prosperous business; his normal childhood prior to Nazism; expulsion from public school; attending Jewish school; hiding during Kristallnacht; revocation of his father's citizenship, brief incarceration, and his death; attending an ORT school; work in a munitions factory; sabotage attempts; and hiding with his family. Mr. R. describes numerous instances of assistance from non-Jews; hiding with his mother in different places using false documents; befriending a German girl; his arrest; refusing...

  17. Mathilde I. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Mathlde I., who was born in Rhodes in 1920. She recounts speaking Ladino at home and Italian in school; three of her brothers emigrating to Africa; refusing her aunt's offer to emigrate to the United States in 1939 in order to stay with her parents and grandmother; her mother's death in 1942; German occupation; deportation with her father by boat to Haidari, then by train to Auschwitz in August 1944; separation from her father upon arrival (she never saw him again); throwing bread over the fence to men they knew; prisoner officials beating others to death; observing w...

  18. Rivka F. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Rivka F., who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1923. She recalls antisemitic harassment preventing her from attending school; her father's emigration to Paris; joining him with her twin sister, a brother, and her mother in November 1938 (older siblings remained); German invasion; cessation of correspondence from her siblings in Poland in 1940; involvement in the Resistance; her brother's arrest; her father's death; fleeing to Lyon with her mother, sister, and sister's husband; organizing her brother's escape when visiting him in Pithiviers; working as a liaison officer a...

  19. Sonia G. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Sonia G., who was born in Poland in 1924. She recalls a sheltered childhood in an affluent home; her father wanting to emigrate but her mother's reluctance to leave her family; German occupation in 1939; her uncle being beaten to death by German soldiers; Czech Jews and those from surrounding towns being relocated to their town; ghettoization; her mother's illness; omnipresent fear; being rounded-up with her father in May 1943 (her mother and sister were hiding); guards brutally murdering crying babies en route to the trains; deportation with her father and cousin to ...

  20. Gunia P. Holocaust testimony

    Videotape testimony of Gunia P., who was born in Hrubieszów, Poland in 1915. She recalls German invasion; ghettoization; receiving food from a Polish friend; her four year old child's murder by the Germans; incarceration with her mother in Budzyń; receiving bread from her husband; their transfer to Majdanek; slave labor sorting clothing; assistance from her husband during a forced march to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her husband upon arrival; receiving medicine from a Polish woman and extra bread from her mother when she was ill; having blood drawn involuntarily; transport to Berg...