Mary L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mary L., who was born in Zagreb, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (now Croatia) in 1910. She recalls the beginning of World War I; her father's military service; living in Vienna from 1916 to 1918; the family's move to Berlin in 1926; working for an insurance company; Hitler's ascent to power; losing her job due to anti-Jewish laws; the anti-Jewish boycott in April 1933; returning to Zagreb; studying English in Britain in 1935; marriage to a Catholic; German invasion in April 1941; moving to the United States Consulate where her husband worked; anti-Jewish measures; denunciation by a worker; evading arrest due to her husband's connections; obtaining a passport which identified her as Catholic; her husband bribing a police officer to conceal his Serbian nationality; obtaining safe passes from the Gestapo; traveling alone to Frankfurt (her husband accompanied the United States Consul), then Bern; driving with her husband and the Consul to Lisbon via France and Spain; boarding a United States ship; and arriving in New York in August 1941. Mrs. L. discusses her father's internment in Italy; his forging documents; his suicide when faced with deportation; and her mother's emigration to the United States after the war.
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
- L., Mary, -- 1910-2001.
Subjects
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Identification (Religion)
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust survivors.
- False papers.
- Interfaith marriage.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
Places
- Agram (Croatia)
- Lisbon (Portugal)
- England.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Bern (Switzerland)
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
- Zagreb (Croatia)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Austria.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat