Gertrud B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Gertrud B., a Romani. She recalls childhood in Prussia, then Danzig; arrest and incarceration in a camp; deportation by cattle car to Auschwitz at age fifteen; the trauma of being tattooed; becoming ill; nine weeks in the infirmary; her sister feigning an injury to join her; being thrown on a pile of corpses; her sister retrieving and nursing her; her father playing music for the barrack elder; transfer to Flossenbürg after two years, then Graslitz; forced labor in a munitions factory; severe punishments and beatings (she shows her scars); liberation by United States troops; seeking relatives; marriage; and the births of six children. Mrs. B. tells of sharing her story with her children and grandchildren; feeling that if this happened again she would commit suicide; and ill health due to the years in concentration camps. Agnes B. appears briefly.
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
- B., Gertrud.
Corporate Bodies
- Flossenbürg (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Romanies -- Nazi persecution -- Germany.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Romani.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Romanies -- Germany -- History -- 20th century.
- Sisters.
- Family.
- Child survivors.
- Forced labor.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Concentration camp inmates.
Places
- Graslitz (Czech Republic : Concentration camp)
- Gdańsk (Poland)
- Danzig (Germany)
- Danzig (Poland : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat