Ruth L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Ruth L., who was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia in approximately 1931, the older of two sisters. She recounts moving to C?esky? Te?s?i?n; her family's affluence; German occupation; her father attending the World's Fair in the United States in April 1939 (he did not return due to the outbreak of war); evacuation to Krako?w, then Bochnia in August 1939 in anticipation of German invasion; German bombings during which her aunt and cousin were killed; traveling to the Soviet zone; deportation to Siberia; forced labor with her mother; harsh conditions including starvation rations and freezing weather; transfer with other Czechs and Poles to Samarqand in December 1941; working on a collective farm; assistance from local Russians; her mother starving herself to give her rations to Ruth L. and her sister; illnesses and hospitalizations; her mother's death; transfer to another farm, then an orphanage; her father arranging for her and her sister to travel to the United States; transport to Mashhad; Soviet guards beating and brainwashing them not to reveal the circumstances under which they had lived; transfer to the United States Embassy in Tehran; traveling by ship to Italy; visiting Naples and Florence with American soldiers; arrival in New York in April 1945; examination by the Red Cross; and reunion with their father. Ms. L. discusses nightmares resulting from her experiences; not sharing her experiences prior to this recording; and the importance of hope and her faith to her survival.

3 videocassettes