Riva B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Riva B., who was born in Nemirov, Ukraine in 1919. She recounts her father's death in a pogrom; her mother storing grain for a Ukrainian peasant and returning it during a famine, thus saving their lives; moving to Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡ in 1934; German invasion in June 1941; returning to Nemirov; German occupation in July; forced relocation; an uncle's appointment to the Judenrat; his warning of a mass killing in November; her mother, fleeing with her mother to Medvezhʹye, then Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡; returning to Nemirov with her mother and aunt to escape mass killings in May 1942; being hidden by their Ukrainian peasant friend in Osipenki; she and her aunt leaving; obtaining false papers with assistance from a non-Jewish friend in Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡; walking to Berdykovtse; working in Horodok; arrest and imprisonment in October; escaping from a mass killing claiming to be non-Jewish Ukrainian; fleeing to Deneshi; living with a Ukrainian family; joining the partisans; execution of a friend suspected of German collaboration; spying for and fighting with partisans; liberation by Soviet troops; reunion with her mother in May 1944; their move to Kiev; marriage; and her daughter's birth. She notes the limitations of words to convey these events; many non-Jews who saved them; sharing her experiences with her daughter and granddaughter; and desecration of a monument to the murdered Jews in Nemirov.
Extent and Medium
4 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., Riva, -- 1919-
Subjects
- Famines -- Ukraine -- History -- 20thcentury.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- False papers.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Ukraine.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish councils.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Ukrainian.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Partisans.
- Mass killings.
- Postwar experiences.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
Places
- Osipenki (Ukraine)
- Deneshi (Ukraine)
- Medvezhʹye Ushko (Ukraine)
- Berdykovtse (Ukraine)
- Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡ (Ukraine)
- Kiev (Ukraine)
- Horodok (Lʹvivsʹka oblastʹ, Ukraine)
- Ukraine.
- Nemirov (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat