Susan K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Susan K., who was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia in 1925. She recounts living in Dolni? Sucha?; her family's affluent, assimilated lifestyle; having to move to Ostrava in 1939 due to the war; her father's deportation to Nisko in October; apprenticeship to a milliner; moving to Prague with her mother and younger sister; sorting clothing of deported Jews; deportation to Theresienstadt in July 1943; forced labor assignments sorting clothing, in the mental hospital, in agriculture, and in the crematorium; sham improvements for a Swiss Red Cross visit; visiting friends and attending concerts; her boyfriend's deportation to Auschwitz, then hers with her family; separation from her mother and sister (she never saw them again); remaining with a friend; transfer four days later to Kurzbach; slave labor digging anti-tank ditches; a death march and train transport to Bergen-Belsen in January 1945; corpses all over; her friend's death; liberation; seeing a document with her father's handwriting; traveling to Prague; reunion with her father; marriage; and emigration to England. Ms. K. discusses the importance of being with her friend; and being able to adjust to shocks due to 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
- K., Susan, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- Schweizerisches Rotes Kreuz.
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Sisters.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Death marches.
- Friendship.
- Child survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
Places
- Ostrava (Czech Republic)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- DolniĚ SuchaĚ (Czech Republic)
- Kurzbach (Poland : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat