Margita H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Margita H., who was born in Šamorín, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1923. She recounts visiting grandparents in Martin; moving to Vel̕ké Leváre, then Tomášov; attending school in Bratislava; expulsion in 1938 due to anti-Jewish laws; participating in Hashomer Hatzair in Nové Zámky and Budapest; returning to Tomášov; German occupation; forced relocation to Rastice; working in Hubice; transfer to Dunajská Streda; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation with her sister from their mother (they never saw her again); remaining with a group from Šamorín; their transfer to Płasźow six days later; slave labor in a quarry; public executions; hospitalization; transfer back to Auschwitz; hospitalization; assistance from a nurse whom she knew from Martin; transfer to Augsburg; improved conditions; assistance from their civilian supervisor; her sister's illness; the civilian doctor arranging her sister's transfer to the hospital in Dachau; learning a prayer and repeating it often for her sister's recovery; her transfer to Dachau (she faked appendicitis); liberation by United States troops in April 1945; traveling through Plzeň to Bratislava, then Šamorín; reunion with her father and cousin in Tomášov; difficulty recovering their property; and marriage in 1947. Ms. H. discusses the importance of being with the group from Šamorín to her and her sister's survival; relations between national groups in the camps; silence in Slovakia concerning the Holocaust until recently; and regrets that she has not shared her experiences with her children. She shows camp artifacts.
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
- H., Margita, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- World Hashomer Hatzair.
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Forced labor.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Women.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Hospitals in concentration camps.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Quarries and quarrying.
- Child survivors.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
Places
- Nové Zámky (Slovakia)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Tomášov (Slovakia)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Dunajská Streda (Slovakia)
- Plzeň (Czech Republic)
- Rastice (Hungary)
- Hubice (Slovakia)
- Augsburg (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Martin (Slovakia)
- Vel̕ké Leváre (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Šamorín (Slovakia)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat