Amanda S. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3469
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Amanda S., a Roman Catholic, who was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1923. She recalls living in Brussels; attending school in Paris; German invasion; briefly fleeing with her father to Limoges; her father hiding after refusing to cooperate with Germans; hiding Jewish friends; being recruited to hide Allied pilots; living under false papers; arrest in February 1944; observing her mother's arrest (two pilots and two Jews were found in her home); incarceration in Fresnes; torture; three months' solitary confinement; prisoners communicating through the plumbing; brief transfer to Romainville; deportation to Ravensbrück in April; slave labor, starvation, and beatings; not receiving packages because she was "Nacht und Nebel"; being subjected to medical experiments from which many died; hospitalization; her mother's death; train transport to Linz; a death march to Mauthausen; carrying her friend; a French man providing her with extra food which helped her survive; liberation by United States troops; assistance returning home from the Red Cross; staying at Hotel Lutetia; learning her father had been killed; placement in a sanitarium for six months in Chamonix; and her career as a flight attendant. Ms. S. discusses group relations in the camps; her mother's efforts to raise prisoner morale; not discussing her experiences until recently; and nightmares about her father.

Extent and Medium

8 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

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.