Yvonne R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Yvonne R., who was born in Thessalonikē, Greece in approximately 1929, the oldest of four children. She recounts living in the Baron de Hirsch neighborhood; German invasion; ghettoization; deaths from starvation; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her family (she never saw her mother or siblings again); slave labor in a textile factory; liquidation of the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager); transfer to Canada Kommando; sorting clothing of murdered Jews; trading "stolen" clothing for food; hiding a friend selected for death; assistance from a Polish, non-Jewish prisoner; reassignment to digging ditches as punishment for "stealing"; transfer to the Union Kommando; assistance from a Greek pharmacist; public hangings; a brief visit with her father (he gave her good shoes); a death march to Ravensbrück; transfer to Malchow; escaping with fifteen others from a death march; hiding in a forest; liberation by Soviet troops; friends being raped by Soviet soldiers; hospitalization in Neubrandenburg; returning home; contact with her father in Italy; preparing for emigration to Palestine in Athens; illegal emigration; incarceration in ʻAtlit; release; reunion with her father; marriage; and the births of her children. Ms. R. discusses her strong will to live contributing to her survival; relations between prisoners from different countries; debilitating depression resulting from her experiences; fearing disbelief of her story; and not sharing her experiences with her children, except one who is interested.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- R., Yvonne, -- 1928-
Corporate Bodies
- Malchow (Concentration camp)
- Ravensbrück (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Jews -- Greece -- Thessalonikē.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Hiding.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Escapes.
- Child survivors.
- Fathers and daughters.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
Places
- Salonika ghetto.
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- ʻAtlit (Israel)
- Athens (Greece)
- Neubrandenburg (Germany)
- Thessalonikē (Greece)
- Greece.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat