Anne-Lise S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Anne-Lise S., who was born in Mannheim, Germany in approximately 1922. She recalls incarceration in Drancy; forming friendships; train transport to Auschwitz/Birkenau; selection for a quarantine barrack; thinking she was in a camp for insane people; one friend dying because she refused to eat, despite urging from others; an Italian Communist explaining the camp to them; slave labor building roads, then a privileged position as a translator due to her friend's influence; being protected from selections by friends who worked in the main office; working near the Canada Kommando; procuring shoes from there for a guard; recognizing her friend's husband; assistance from him; being chosen as a typist, another privileged position, because she was blond; receiving extra food and better clothing; observing the arrival of trains, including the Hungarians; singing with her friends on Sundays; transfer to the weaving factory; extended appels after a crematorium was blown up by prisoners; transfer to Bergen-Belsen, then Raguhn; slave labor in an airplane factory and digging ditches; a severe beating; transfer to Theresienstadt; assistance from prisoners there; liberation by Soviet troops; repatriation to Paris via Lyon; and reunion with her parents. Ms. S. discusses relations between prisoner groups in the camps; becoming emotionally numb; the importance of friendships to her survival; and difficulty sharing her experiences with those who were not in camps, particularly her parents.
Extent and Medium
3 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. This testimony cannot be edited or altered.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- S., Anne-Lise, -- 1922?-
Corporate Bodies
- Drancy (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Concentration camps -- Revolts.
- Postwar experiences.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Songs and music.
- Friendship.
- Mutual aid.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Mannheim (Germany)
- Lyon (France)
- Raguhn (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Germany.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat