Vilma H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Vilma H., who was born in Szollos, Czechoslovakia (presently Vynohradiv, Ukraine) in 1921. She recalls her family's comfortable life; Czechoslovakia's liberal atmosphere which resulted in their minimizing the danger of German antisemitism; Hungarian occupation; antisemitic restrictions; ghettoization; deportation with her family to Auschwitz; separation from her father, mother, sister, and niece (she never saw them again); assignment sorting clothing; providing friends with clothes; the pervasive odor of burning flesh; volunteering for transfer; forced labor in a Sudeten camp; abandonment by the guards in May 1945; traveling to a nearby village with another prisoner; staying with a Czech family; traveling to Budapest and Prague seeking surviving family (she was the only survivor); meeting her husband; traveling to London; and emigration to the United States. Mrs. H. discusses her wish in camp to be executed, thereby removing the option of suicide; her belief in camp that no one would survive; viewing their survival as a victory over Hitler; a woman who was ostracized after the war because she would do anything to survive; and being too preoccupied after liberation with rebuilding her life to properly mourn her family.
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
- H., Vilma, -- 1921-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Forced labor.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- London (England)
- Szollos (Czechoslovakia)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Vynohradiv (Ukraine)
- Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat