Violet S. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Violet S., who was born in Berehovo, Czechoslovakia in 1928. She recounts Hungarian occupation in 1939; her father's mobilization into a Hungarian labor battalion (she never saw him again); German occupation; hardships encountered by her mother in caring for six children; round-ups of Jews from surrounding villages to a nearby brick factory; supplying food and medicine to the incarcerated Jews with other local youngsters; her own family's round-up; hunger; inadequate shelter; and her mother's efforts to provide strength and a sense of security. Mrs. S. tells of deportation to Auschwitz; separation from her mother and youngest siblings; efforts to remain with her sister and fear of separation from her; extreme hunger; the oppressive odor; their transfer to Christianstadt in 1944; kitchen work; help from other prisoners; a death march; and arrival at Bergen-Belsen. She describes piles of corpses; witnessing cannibalism; efforts to keep her sister alive; food received from a German guard; liberation by British troops; recovery in Sweden; and marriage. Other topics include interdependence with her sister, to which she attributes their survival; adjustment difficulties after liberation; and the effects of her experiences on her children.

2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)