Ilsa C. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ilsa C., who was born in Hamm, Germany in 1916 and raised in Geilenkirchen. She recounts a large, extended family, their strong German identity; cordial relations with non-Jews until Hitler came to power; attending Catholic school; studying in Aachen and Berlin; official hiding of overt antisemitism during the 1936 Olympics; meeting her future husband in Cologne; obtaining papers to emigrate to the United States; returning home for a few months; going to the railroad station with her family during Kristallnacht; traveling to Cologne; visiting her parents in Aachen (the last time she saw them); emigrating with her brother to the United States via England (her future husband had already arrived); continuing to hear from her parents for a while; and her sister's emigration to England. Ms. C. discusses her father's reluctance to leave Germany, not wanting to leave his parents and never having been out of Germany; the deaths of most of her relatives due to that reluctance; and her difficulty conveying the fear they lived with every day.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- C., Ilsa, -- 1916-
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Aachen (Germany)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Hamm (Koblenz, Germany)
- Germany.
- Geilenkirchen (Germany)
- Cologne (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat