Irene W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Irene W., who was born in Kobern, Germany in 1921. She recalls feeling secure and respected in the German community; her father's arrest during Kristallnacht; working as a nurse's aide in a Jewish hospital in Cologne; anti-Jewish regulations; sending packages to her parents who were deported to Lublin in March 1942; forced relocation of the hospital into a fortress on the outskirts of Cologne; deportation with about fifty Jews on a passenger train to Terezi?n in 1943; working in a hospital; assistance from her boyfriend's family; transport to Auschwitz; praying during selection; digging ditches in Trachenberg (presently Z?migro?d) in 1944; the death march to Gross Rosen in March 1945; Allied bombing during evacuation in open cattle cars to Bergen-Belsen; helping a friend to give birth; starvation and lack of water resulting in a high death rate; disappearance of German guards; and liberation by British troops. Mrs. W. recounts reunion with her fiance in Cologne; learning no one from her family survived; receiving a telegram from her brother in the United States; and emigrating to the United States in 1947. She discusses assistance from non-Jews and the importance of friendship to her survival.
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
- W., Irene, -- 1921-
Corporate Bodies
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
- Mutual aid.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Death marches.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Friendship.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- ZĚmigroĚd (Poland)
- Cologne (Germany)
- Kobern (Germany)
- Germany.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat