Rachel S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rachel S., who was born in Vilna, Poland in 1923, one of five children. She recalls cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion in 1941; ghettoization; sneaking back to her former neighborhood and receiving food from non-Jewish neighbors; forced labor; her father losing his will to live; his refusal of an offer from a non-Jewish friend to hide their family; remaining in their apartment with one sister during a round-up (another sister and her parents were shot in a mass killing at Ponary); joining her brother who was hiding in a village; discovery; incarceration of those hiding them; a three-week Gestapo interrogation in Vilna; transfer to a small camp in September 1943, then to Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Dachau; liberation; assistance from the Red Cross; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage six weeks after liberation; reunion with one brother, the only other family survivor; living in Heidenhiem displaced persons camp for three years; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. notes she lost her faith, although never lost hope in the camps; nightmares about being caught by Germans; not sharing her story with her daughters; and painful feelings concerning the reunification of Germany.
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
- S., Rachel, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Stutthof (Concentration camp)
- Kaiserwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jews -- Lithuania -- Vilnius.
- Forced labor.
- Paneriai Massacres, Paneriai, Lithuania, 1941-1944.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mass killings.
- Faith.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Refugee camps.
Places
- Heidenheim an der Brenz (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Vilna ghetto.
- Feldafing (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Vilna (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat