Zehava R. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Zehava R., who was born in Żywiec, Poland in 1935, one of two children. She recounts living in Bochnia; German invasion; ghettoization; hiding in a bunker during round-ups; an aunt's wedding; separation from her brother during a round-up (they never saw him again); living with an aunt who worked for the Germans; her aunt arranging for a non-Jewish woman to hide her; escaping from the ghetto; the woman taking her to Jews in Prokocim; entering Slovakia illegally with them; living in a Joint camp in Liptovský Mikuláš; intense loneliness; arrest in Košice while attempting to enter Hungary with a group; transfer to a prison in Budapest; an aunt securing her release; moving to Baja, posing as non-Jews; her aunt placing her in an orphanage; German invasion; her aunt moving her to an orphanage in Budapest; leaving during Allied bombings; living on the streets; assistance from the Judenrat, through which she volunteered to go to Romania with a group; their arrest in Debrecen; transfer to Budapest; release; living on the streets, then traveling to Miske; a Jewish couple posing as non-Jews taking her in; liberation by Soviet troops a year later; traveling to Bucharest; deciding to live with a childless wealthy couple, where she was abused; choosing to enter an orphanage; her aunt from Czecholovakia finding her two years later; living with her in Český Těšín; traveling to London in 1949 with a program for abandoned children; emigration to Israel via Marseille in 1950; and her relatives there not wanting her. Ms. R. discusses many fears and lack of trust resulting from her experiences; not sharing them with her children, wanting to shield them; a reunion with the couple that hid her in Miske; and their role as surrogate grandparents to her children.

11 videocassettes