Rita L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Rita L., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1932. She describes her wealthy, assimilated parents; German invasion; moving to the "small" ghetto; attending an illegal school; corpses in the streets becoming routine; family contacts with Janusz Korczak; escape to an uncle in Klimonto?w; and fleeing to L'viv with her mother in 1942, having learned all Jews were to be deported (she never saw her father again). Mrs. L. recounts living with her non-Jewish governess's sister; moving when threatened by blackmailers; her mother working as a servant for a German family, then in a German officers' club; attending a convent school where the priest guessed she was Jewish and gave her baptismal papers; becoming an ardent Catholic; liberation by Soviet troops in the summer of 1944; moving to ?o?dz?; participating in a Zionist youth group; learning of American relatives through the Joint; and emigrating to Paris in 1945, then the United States in 1950. She relates her continuing interest in Zionism; reluctance to discuss her experiences with her children; changing this attitude due to participation in the Hidden Children Foundation; and a visit to Poland with the Foundation in 1993.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
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
- Korczak, Janusz, -- 1878-1942.
- L., Rita, -- 1932-
Corporate Bodies
- Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.
Subjects
- Identification (Religion)
- Mothers and daughters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Child survivors.
- False papers.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- Zionist activities.
- Hiding.
Places
- Warsaw ghetto.
- L'vov (Ukraine)
- Lwów (Poland)
- Paris (France)
- Łódź (Poland)
- L'viv (Ukraine)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat