Vera Z. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Vera Z., who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1925. She recalls attending Lithuanian school; Lithuanian friends; Soviet occupation; Lithuanian violence against Jews prior to the arrival of German troops; a Lithuanian neighbor who saved them; her father's death in a mass shooting at the Seventh Fort; ghettoization; hiding her younger sister during round-ups; forced labor; escaping and staying with Lithuanian friends during mass killings; a Jewish policeman saving them from selection; hiding during deportations after warnings from the policeman; smuggling food for her family; a Lithuanian friend giving her her passport which saved her life many times; working on farms posing as a non-Jew; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Kaunas; learning the ghetto had been burned (her mother and sister had hidden there); assistance from Lithuanian friends; attending university in Moscow; and her career in Kaunas. Ms. Z. notes one son emigrated to the United States; visiting him; her other son and husband remaining in Kaunas; and difficulty deciding whether to emigrate. She discusses spitting on a Lithuanian after the war who had tried to expose her as a Jew; her pervasive memories; and the impossibility of conveying her experiences in a few hours. She shows photographs.

2 videocassettes