Rita M. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Rita M., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1927. She recalls her parent's Sephardic roots; a happy childhood in an assimilated and wealthy home; anti-Semitic incidents; the Anschluss; her father and brother being forced to wash streets with small brushes; her mother's assault (which later required surgery) and rescue by an Austrian soldier and shopkeepers; one neighbor who protected her family's possessions; hiding in her uncle's house when her mother had surgery; fleeing to Paris via Switzerland, and, after the outbreak of war in France, to Turkey via Bulgaria; attending French and British schools; her brother's emigration to the United States; obtaining United States visas; traveling by train to Palestine; incarceration with her parents in a camp for illegal immigrants; traveling to Port Said; and emigration to the United States. Mrs. M. discusses her constant thoughts about friends who didn't survive; nightmares that Germans would come to take her children which resulted in over-protectiveness; and reluctance to admit her Jewish identity. She shows family heirlooms and explains Sephardic traditions and culture.

2 videocassettes