Helen M. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2063
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Helen M., who was born in Przytyk, Poland in 1920. She recalls German invasion; forced relocation to Wierzbica; forced labor; escaping to local partisans; being hidden by a Polish farmer; the farmer asking her to leave fearing exposure; moving to another farm, then Szyd?owiec; hiding during a round-up; arrest; escaping by bribing a policeman; learning her older brother was killed; hiding with a Polish man; traveling to Radom; entering the ghetto; forced labor in Ostrowiec; transfer to Auschwitz; separation from her younger brother (she never saw him again); evacuation to Gebhardsdorf in November 1944; a death march to Kratzau, then Georgenthal; and liberation by Soviet troops. Mrs. M. describes her return to Poland; futile efforts to find family; joining her aunt in Prague; moving to Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage; emigration to the United States in 1949; and discussing her experiences with her children. Mrs. M. shows photographs.

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

  • M., Helen, -- 1920-

Corporate Bodies

  • Ostrowiec (Concentration camp)
  • Kratzau I (Concentration camp)
  • Auschwitz (Concentration camp)

Subjects

  • Partisans.
  • Survivor-child relations.
  • Mutual aid.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Aid by non-Jews.
  • Hiding.
  • Death marches.
  • Refugee camps.
  • Video tapes.
  • Jewish ghettos.
  • Forced labor.
  • Brothers and sisters.
  • Jews -- Poland -- Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie)
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Women.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Poland.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.

Places

  • Georgenthal (Germany : Concentration camp)
  • Gebhardsdorf (Poland : Concentration camp)
  • Prague (Czech Republic)
  • Radom ghetto.
  • Szydłowiec (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
  • Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
  • Przytyk (Poland)
  • Weirzbica (Poland)
  • Poland.

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.