Esther K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Esther K., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1919. She recalls her large, extended family; attending public school; German invasion; marriage; ghettoization; working in a clothing factory; her father, two brothers, and a sister dying from starvation; deportations, including her mother and other siblings; transfer with her husband and a cousin to Auschwitz in 1944; separation from her husband (she never saw him again); and the public shooting of her pregnant cousin. Mrs. K. recounts transfer after six weeks to Bergen-Belsen, then Salzwedel; forced labor in a munitions factory; receiving food from non-Jews; losing a finger from an injury; and liberation by United States troops. She recounts returning to Poland to search for her husband; fleeing to Germany; living in the Landsberg displaced persons camp; marriage; birth of a son (he died at six weeks) and a daughter; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. K. notes her close relationship with her children and that she is the only member of her large family who survived.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- K., Esther, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Salzwedel (Concentration camp)
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Refugee camps.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Mutual aid.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Husband -- Death.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Łódź (Poland)
- Łódź ghetto.
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat