Sonia R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Sonia R., who was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929 of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father. She describes her father's anti-Nazi activities; Gestapo harassment; emigration to Italy, then France, in January 1933 because of her father's politics; her mother's art work; expulsion from France nine months later; her father's return to Germany and her mother's refusal, leading to their divorce; moving with her mother to San Remo; her third sibling's birth; receiving government orders in October 1939 to leave because they were foreigners; a German consular official helping her mother avoid deportation to Germany; internment in Grottaminarda, then Mirabella Eclano; pervasive hunger; moving to Mercogliano; receiving a small stipend from an American relative; interrogation by an SS soldier after German occupation; hiding in a forest; liberation by Allied troops; their emigration to the United States in August 1944; internment in Fort Ontario; and release in 1946. Mrs. R. discusses not being allowed to discuss their experiences within her family; her siblings' continuing refusal to discuss that time; and her mother's strength and determination which resulted in their survival. Mrs. R. shows photographs, her mother's artwork, and documents.
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
- R., Sonia, -- 1929-
Corporate Bodies
- Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Anti-Nazi movement.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Children of interfaith marriage.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Child survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Oswego (N.Y.)
- Mercogliano (Italy)
- Germany.
- Hamburg (Germany)
- France.
- San Remo (Italy)
- Grottaminarda (Italy)
- Mirabella Eclano (Italy)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat