Celia K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Celia K., who was born in L?viv, Ukraine (then Poland) in 1935. She recalls their relative affluence; a warm, extended family; cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion in 1941; former neighbors turning on them; her father's draft into the Soviet military; ghettoization; harsh conditions including starvation, disease, and frequent deaths; her mother going to a labor camp; hiding on her own during round-ups (adults would not take in a young child fearing exposure); witnessing soldiers violently killing children; escaping with her mother, who had arranged to hide her with a Catholic family; living with loving foster parents for a year; having to leave when it became too dangerous; her foster mother, unbeknownst to anyone else, hiding her in a barn; finding her mother was already there; liberation by Soviet troops a year later; reunion with her father; living in displaced persons camps in Germany; emigration to the United States in 1949, when she believes her life truly began; her brother's birth; and caring for him due to her mother's emotional problems. Ms. K. discusses continuing fears and nightmares resulting from her experiences; not sharing her story with her children; and the impact of her experience on them, despite her secrecy.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes
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., Celia, -- 1935-
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Nightmares.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Lสนviv.
- Foster parents.
- Refugee camps.
- Child survivors.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
Places
- Lสนvov ghetto.
- Poland.
- Lสนviv (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat