Anna S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Anna S., who was born in Podkamen?, Poland (presently Ukraine) in 1923, one of eight children. She recalls attending school; Soviet occupation; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; joining her boyfriend to work on a village mayor's farm; hiding in the woods with her father, brothers, boyfriend, and other relatives; digging a bunker for the winter; their discovery; building another bunker in a different location; working for farmers in the spring; building another bunker; becoming ill; her brother leaving to obtain medication; announcing when he returned that the Soviets had liberated the area; returning to Podkamen?; retreating to Pochai?v; the men joining the Soviet military; traveling with the woman and elderly to Z?H?ytomyr; obtaining food from the Red Cross; her future husband's release since he was not fit for battle; traveling with him to Rivne, Dubno, then Bytom; their marriage in November 1945; traveling with Berih?ah to Germany; living in Pocking displaced persons camp; assistance from UNRRA and the Red Cross; contacting her aunt in the United States; and emigration to join her in 1949, with assistance from HIAS. Ms. S. discusses extreme hardship hiding in the forest for three years; their inability to help wandering orphaned children; the impossibility of conveying the reality of her experiences to non-survivors; and gratitude to her husband, to whom she attributes 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
- S., Anna, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Beriḥah (Organization)
- HIAS (Agency)
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Forests.
- Bunkers.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Families.
- Husband and wife.
- Soviet occupation.
- Refugee camps.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Fathers and daughters.
Places
- Poland.
- Podkamenʹ (Ukraine)
- Bytom (Poland)
- Pocking (Passau, Germany : Refugee camp)
- Pochaïv (Ukraine)
- Z︠H︡ytomyr (Ukraine)
- Rivne (Rivnensʹka oblastʹ, Ukraine)
- Dubno (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat