Edith W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Edith W., who was born in Balka?ny, Hungary in 1931. She recounts her father's rabbinical position in several towns in Czechoslovakia including Jels?ava; anti-Jewish laws including expulsion from their town after Hungarian occupation; living in Rejc?kov; the births of several siblings; exclusion from school; deportations; her family's exemption because other exempted Jews needed a rabbi; deportation of her grandmother in 1942; her mother obtaining Hungarian passports for them; her mother smuggling a younger brother to relatives in Hungary (he did not survive); moving to Pres?ov in 1943; obtaining false papers; traveling to Banska? Stiavnica in summer 1944; staying with friends, then being hidden by a non-Jew in a nearby village; pretending to be Protestants; liberation in spring 1945; returning to their village; and emigrating to join relatives in the United States in August 1946. Mrs. W. discusses her belief that they survived because of miracles; their efforts to remain observant despite the dangers; the stress and constant fear of exposure; sharing her story with her children at the second Seder every year; and a 1987 trip to the village where they were hidden.
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
Corporate Bodies
- W., Edith, -- (1931-)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Miracles.
- Faith.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- False papers.
- Child survivors.
- Hungarian occupation.
Places
- Prešov (Slovakia)
- Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia)
- Jelšava (Slovakia)
- Rejčkov (Czech Republic)
- Hungary.
- Balkány (Hungary)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat