Madeleine S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Madeleine S., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1927. She recalls German occupation; removing her star to buy bread; ghettoization; moving into her uncle's and aunt's apartment; her father's deportation (she never saw him again); attending high school; forced labor in a sewing factory; her mother's death; studying in the factory school; being "adopted" by H?ayim Rumkowski and living with twelve others - "his children"; receiving better food and treatment; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in August 1944; remaining with three friends from the Rumkowski group; a German civilian bringing them food; sharing food with each other; their transfer to Hamburg; slave labor clearing bombing rubble; discussing their favorite foods; vicious female SS guards; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; starvation; liberation by British troops; separation from her three friends who were hospitalized; living in Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; working for the Joint; and emigrating to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. discusses Rumkowski's love of children, which saved her life, and having no choice about working with the Germans; continuing contact with her camp friends; not wanting to visit Poland; and writing about her experiences.
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
- Rumkowski, Mordecai Ḥayim.
- S., Madeleine, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- DP-Camp Bergen-Belsen.
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Child survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Forced labor.
- Refugee camps.
- Friendship.
- Orphanages -- Poland.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Łódź (Poland)
- Poland.
- Hamburg (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat