Aleksandra U. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Aleksandra U., who was born in Russia in 1912, the third of six children. She recounts a brother's death prior to her birth; destruction of their house during World War I; building a new house in Kalinkavychy in 1918; the deaths of two sisters; her father's death in 1919; her brother's birth shortly thereafter; her mother's marriage to her sister's widower in 1923; his six children moving to their home; leaving school at fourteen to help support the family; working in Poltava until 1930; learning accounting; completing teachers education in Minsk; assignment to teach in Asipovichy and to supervise the school in Lipenʹ; her family (her mother had two more children) joining her (they had suffered greatly during the famine years); working as an accountant for railroads several places including Samokhvalovichi, Zembin, and Slutsk; marriage to a non-Jew in 1936; living in Asipovichy; the births of three sons; German invasion in June 1941; her husband's mobilization; fleeing with the children, then returning home; not registering as a Jew, although locally it was known; hiding with assistance from a non-Jew during a round-up for a mass killing; her husband's return; his employment by the municipality; obtaining papers for her as a non-Jew through his job; fleeing to Starye Dorogi when it became dangerous (her husband and children remained); feigning mental retardation so she would not have to speak (she had a Yiddish accent); moving to her husband's family in Bykhaw via Chechevichi; moving to Babruĭsk with her mother-in-law, fearing recognition, her husband and children joining them; fleeing to the forest fearing a German raid; her husband's arrest for partisan activities; liberation by Soviet troops; and her husband's death resulting from his imprisonment.

4 videocassettes