Esther W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Esther W., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1929. She recalls her comfortable childhood; her brother's emigration to Palestine in 1936; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; moving with her family to Warsaw and Falenica in 1940; ghettoization in Warsaw; fleeing to Stopnica; joining her aunt in Staszo?w in 1942; her father's deportation; deportation with her aunt to Skarz?ysko (she never saw her mother and sister again); forced labor in a munitions factory; public hangings; her father visiting, sharing his bread, and arranging her transfer to his camp; his deportation; transfer with her friend to a camp near Leipzig in the spring of 1944; her friend's pregnancy and childbirth; and liberation from a death march by Soviet troops in the spring of 1945. Mrs. W. describes reunion with her father in ?o?dz?; traveling with him to Feldafing; joining her brother in Israel in 1948; marriage; the birth of her sons; and emigrating with her family to the United States. She reflects upon the loss of her childhood; constant fear of illness or going to the wrong side during selections; never sharing her experiences with her husband and children; and continuing reluctance to discuss the war years.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
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., Esther, -- 1929-
Corporate Bodies
- Skarżysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Jewish ghettos.
- Fathers and daughters.
- Refugee camps.
- Death marches.
- Israel.
- Jews -- Poland -- Warsaw.
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Child survivors.
- Mutual aid.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jews -- Poland -- Staszów.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Warsaw ghetto.
- Falenica (Warsaw, Poland)
- Feldafing (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Staszów ghetto.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Poland.
- Staszów (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
- Stopnica (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat