Bella B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Bella B., who was born in Piotrko?w, Poland in 1920. Mrs. B. describes her family; the German invasion; isolation and persecution of the Jews; and the formation of the ghetto, which she escaped from with family members by hiding in a bunker. She recalls the birth of her sister's baby in the bunker; returning to the ghetto; separation from her brother whom she never saw again; her brother-in-law's efforts to keep the newly born child hidden; learning about the mass shooting of all the young men in a nearby woods; and deportation to Skarz?ysko-Kamienna. Mrs. S. recounts conditions in Skarz?ysko; the many beatings and the loss of dignity; receiving advice from the rabbi of her hometown in Skarz?ysko; transfer with 3,000 women to Leipzig; kindness shown to her by a German worker; constant hunger; the three week death march; and liberation by Russians. She tells of her return to Poland to seek family; narrowly escaping rape by Polish and Russian men; extreme antisemitism in Poland; learning her sister was alive in Bergen-Belsen; and smuggling herself into Germany. She recalls her reunion with her sister; meeting her husband who was a rabbi and scholar; the birth of two of her children; emigration to the United States; the death of her husband; her remarriage; and her reluctance to discuss her experience with her children.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
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
- B., Bella, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- Skarżysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)
- DP-Camp Bergen-Belsen.
Subjects
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mass killings.
- Bunkers.
- Hiding.
- Childbirth in Jewish ghettos.
- Death marches.
- Jewish councils.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Piotrków Trybunalski.
Places
- Piotrków ghetto.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Leipzig (Germany)
- Piotrków Trybunalski (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat