Susan F. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Susan F., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1919. She recalls moving with her mother to Prague in 1933 to join relatives, her father thinking it safer; anti-Jewish measures in 1939 including expulsion from the family home; her father telephoning to tell them he had to report to a transport (they never saw him again); deportation with her mother to Theresienstadt in May 1942, then to Estonia in September; their separation in Raasiku (she never saw her again); slave labor in Ja?gala, Reval, Narwa, and Kivio?li; close bonds with her fellow prisoners which saved her from total despair; assistance from local Estonians; transfer to Stutthof, then Ochsenzoll; slave labor in a munitions factory; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; liberation by British troops two weeks later; returning to Prague in June; reunion with an aunt and cousin; and emigration to the United States. Mrs. F. discusses continuing close relations with her camp friends; emotional and physical problems resulting from her experiences; the discovery of a Kommandant of Estonian camps in 1960; her friends testifying against him (he committed suicide); continuing hostility toward Germans and Germany; and pervasive painful memories. She shows photographs.
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
- F., Susan, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Narwa (Concentration camp)
- KivioĚli (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Stutthof (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Postwar effects.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Mothers and daughters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- JaĚgala (Estonia)
- Ochsenzoll (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Lagedi (Estonia : Concentration camp)
- Reval (Estonia : Concentration camp)
- Raasiku (Estonia)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Germany.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat