Cherna G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Cherna G., who was born in Z︠H︡ytomyr, Ukraine in 1927, one of five children. She recalls all her siblings dying during the famine; German invasion; her family fleeing to Staraya Kotelʹnya; encountering German troops; returning to Z︠H︡ytomyr; local police beating her grandparents, then killing her grandmother and three young cousins; hiding with her parents and other relatives; ghettoization; her mother's assignment for forced labor with one hundred Jewish women; learning they were killed in a mass shooting; escaping disguised as a Ukrainian; hiding with a non-Jewish neighbor; leaving when it became too dangerous; hiding with non-Jewish families in nearby villages; a futile attempt to enter an orphanage in Grishkovtsy; learning her father and all other relatives had been killed; hiding with her sister's friend; using the friend's birth certificate to enter an orphanage; questioning by police to verify her identity; being baptized; liberation by Soviet troops; working for the Soviet military; marriage; and the births of three children Ms. G. discusses being a witness in war crime trials of local police; continuing contact with many who saved her and other Jewish survivors; and continuing nightmares. She names many of her rescuers and murdered Jews.
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
- G., Cherna, -- 1927-
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Z︠H︡ytomyr.
- Escapes.
- Orphanages -- Ukraine.
- Nightmares.
- Christian converts from Judaism.
- War crime trials.
- Child survivors.
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
- Hiding.
- Mass killings.
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Z︠H︡ytomyr (Ukraine)
- Ukraine.
- Staraya Kotelʹnya (Ukraine)
- Famines -- Ukraine -- History -- 20th century.
- Z︠H︡ytomyr ghetto.
- Grishkovtsy (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat