Rebecca L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rebecca L., who was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1908, one of ten children. She recalls her family spending World War I in London; the births of two siblings there; returning to Antwerp; working as a diamond cutter starting at age sixteen; marriage in 1933; her sister's incarceration in Wurttemburg in 1941 as an English citizen; some family members hiding, while others were deported; her husband encouraging her to join the resistance; arrest in 1943; imprisonment in Antwerp, St. Gilles, Luxembourg, and Aix-La-Chapelle, (presently Allach); singing resistance songs to maintain morale; kindness from a guard; and deportation to Auschwitz. She describes crying upon hearing of the gas chambers and never crying again; learning of the deaths of her father and brother; work assignments in Birkenau including the Canada Kommando; protection by friends; Mala Zimetbaum's escape, capture, and public hanging; the death march to Ravensbru?ck in January 1945; forced labor in several German camps; friends carrying her when she could not walk on the last death march; liberation by Soviet troops in Ries; reunion with surviving family in Brussels; and her divorce. Mrs. L. shows photographs; sings partisan songs; and lists many relatives who were killed.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- Zimetbaum, Mala, -- 1918-1944.
- L., Rebecca, -- 1908-
Corporate Bodies
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- RavensbruĚck (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Death marches.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Songs and music.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Resistance.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Belgian.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Aix-la-Chapelle (Germany)
- Ries (Germany)
- Aachen (Germany)
- Luxembourg.
- London (England)
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Belgium.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat