Erna P. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Erna P., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1919, one of four children. She recalls her father's death when she was nine; her neighbors' rapid transition to Nazism in 1933; attending public school; a teacher protecting her from antisemitic harrassment; deportation to Poland of her older sister's husband as a non-German citizen; her sister and sister's child joining him (she never saw them again); her younger sister's departure on a kindertransport to Palestine; working as a seamstress; the destructiveness of Kristallnacht; forced labor for Siemens in Spandau; her mother's deportation in November 1942 (she never saw her again); hiding with a colleague; arranging a hiding-place for her deaf older brother; assistance from a couple who were later arrested and executed; liberation by Soviet troops; avoiding rape by the Soviets; living in Weissensee; and her daughter's birth. Ms. P. discusses the importance of luck and help from non-Jews to her and her brother's survival; not leaving Germany because of her brother; arranging for official recognition of the woman who hid her; not sharing her experiences with her daughter; her daughter's emigration to the United States to join Erna P.'s sister and her family; loneliness; and nightmares resulting from her experiences.

2 videocassettes