Rachel L. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 1304
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Rachel L., who was born in Che?m, Poland in 1924. Mrs. L. recalls family life; her father's respected position; German occupation; establishment of the Judenrat; ghettoization; children becoming "old" people; hunger; a mass killing in December 1939; forced labor; her father's death from hunger; her mother being taken on the first round-up; forming a bond with another girl who had been left alone; and going together to Polish villages. She describes helpful farmers; fear of staying long due to the risk to their helpers; Germans compelling Jews to perform humiliating acts in the Rejowiec ghetto; forced labor with chemicals resulting in burns and gangrene in her fingers; deportation to Majdanek; exchanging names with one of two sisters so they could remain together; transfer to Skarz?ysko-Kamienna; munitions work; producing more than her quota; receiving extra soup from the overseer which she shared with a friend; transfer a year later to Cze?stochowa, then Ravensbru?ck, and to Bergen-Belsen in 1945; extreme conditions; mass burials; liberation by British troops; many deaths after liberation; and contacting her future husband. Mrs. L. vividly details life and conditions in ghettos and concentration camps.

Extent and Medium

3 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

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Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.