Rita K. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Rita K., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1931, an only child. She recalls her maternal grandparents living with them; an assimilated lifestyle; attending a secular school, then a Jewish one; her paternal grandparents and other relatives emigrating to England in 1938; her father's emigration in 1939; antisemitic restrictions; being caught in a round-up at a park forbidden to Jews; her mother securing her release; being forced to move twice; her maternal grandparents' deaths; deportation with her mother to Theresienstadt in September 1942; placement in a children's barracks; visits with her mother; forced labor doing farm work and sewing uniforms; attending lessons; her mother sharing extra food; an assignment with other children moving boxes of human ashes; sham improvements for a Red Cross visit; singing in an opera; frequent deportations; liberation by Soviet troops; transfer by UNRRA via Prague and Munich to Deggendorf displaced persons camp; attending classes and celebrating Jewish holidays; contact with her father; leaving for Paris a year later; emigration to England six months later; reunion with her father; her parents' divorce; marriage in 1952; living in the United States for two years; and the births of her children. Ms. K. notes her sense of fear and isolation in Theresienstadt, becoming more religious, and her strong sense of family due to her experiences. She shows photographs and documents.

2 videocassettes