Margit M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Margit M., who was born in Varnsdorf, Czechoslovakia in 1929 to a Jewish father and a Czech mother who had converted to Judaism. She describes her parents' concerns about growing German nationalism; German occupation in 1938; harassment at school; her father's arrest on Kristallnacht; a German girl assisting them; learning her father was in Sachsenhausen; his release on Christmas; her mother agreeing to divorce him to protect them, but never following through; her father moving to Prague, thinking it safer; remaining with her mother, sister and maternal grandmother; expulsion from school; her mother's emotional difficulties and suicide; working as a servant for a family that moved to VrchlabiĚ; their abusive treatment; transfer to forced farm labor; her grandmother finding her a position in a munitions factory in Varnsdorf; protection from a friend of her father; receiving letters from her father who was in Theresienstadt from 1942 to 1944, when he was deported to Auschwitz; liberation by Soviet troops; learning her father had been gassed; and his friend from camp assisting her move to Prague to resume her education. Ms. M. discusses the importance of her grandmother to her and her sister's survival. She shows photographs, documents, and memorabilia.
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
- M., Margit, -- 1929-
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Children of interfaith marriage.
- Forced labor.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Child survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
Places
- Czechoslovakia.
- Varnsdorf (Czech Republic)
- VrchlabiĚ (Czech Republic)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat