Helen R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Helen R., who was born in Krako?w, Poland in 1925. She recalls an idyllic childhood; family religious observances; German invasion; ghettoization in 1941; her father's deportation; gradual liquidation of the ghetto; hiding her mother with a Polish friend; forced labor; escaping to P?aszo?w to avoid deportation; working as a housekeeper for the camp Kommandant, Amon Goeth; frequent humiliation and beatings by Goeth; observing his arbitrary, sadistic treatment of prisoners; being comforted by Oskar Schindler and the other housekeeper; visiting her mother and sisters in P?aszo?w; her continuing belief in God; saving other prisoners from Goeth's murderous rages; removing her sisters from a deportation; providing information and passes to the camp resistance; Goeth's arrest; learning her mother had perished; transfer, with her sisters and cousins, as "Schindler's Jews"; arrival at Auschwitz in fall 1944; retaining a picture of her parents; transfer to Schindler's factory in Bru?nnlitz; liberation; returning to Krako?w; testifying at Goeth's trial; moving to a displaced persons camp in Parsch, Austria; marriage; emigration to the United States; and recurring nightmares. Mrs. R. notes her constant terror while working for Goeth; gratitude to Schindler despite his Nazi ties; and assisting other "Schindler's Jews" to support him the rest of his life.
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.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- Göth, Amon, -- 1908-1946.
- Schindler, Oskar, -- 1908-1974.
- R., Helen, -- 1925-
Corporate Bodies
- Brünnlitz (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Refugee camps.
- Child survivors.
- Nightmares.
- War crime trials.
- Friendship.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Faith.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Postwar effects.
- Concentration camps -- Underground movements.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Escapes
- Forced labor.
- Sisters.
- Mothers and daughters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jews -- Poland -- Kraków
- Jewish ghettos.
Places
- Parsch (Austria : Refugee camp)
- Kraków ghetto.
- Kraków.
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat