Ester E. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ester E., who was born in Šal̕a, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1926, one of four children. She recounts her family's affluence; Hungarian occupation in 1938; her older brother's emigration to Palestine in 1939; certification as a seamstress; German invasion in 1944; ghettoization; arrests and beatings of her father; transfer to the Nové Zámky ghetto; a letter from her brother noting he had documents for their emigration to Palestine; her mother's refusal to leave her relatives; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in May; she and one sister's separation from their family (they never saw them again); useless slave labor; her cousin arranging a privileged position as a seamstress, for which she received extra food; a male prisoner giving her better shoes; transfer to Bergen-Belsen in September, then to Duderstadt in November; slave labor in a munitions factory; a civilian worker leaving her extra food; her sister's death; a death march to Raguhn; hiding with others during the evacuation; their discovery and arrest; the local police releasing them; working for local Germans; liberation by United States troops; assistance from a Jewish soldier with whom she is still in contact; being cared for in Bitterfeld, then Halle; contacting her brother in Palestine; returning home; recovering hidden valuables; sheltering youth preparing to emigrate to Palestine under the auspices of Bene ʻAḳiva; marriage; illegal emigration to Palestine via Marseille in 1946; incarceration on Cyprus; the birth of a sickly child who died; reunion with her brother; and the subsequent births of three daughters. Ms. E. discusses pervasive painful memories; only recently sharing her experiences with her children and grandchildren; and learning five years ago that her sister was buried in the Jewish cemetery in the city of Duderstadt. She sings a Hungarian song and shows photographs and documents.
Extent and Medium
7 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
- E., Ester, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Duderstadt (Concentration camp)
- Bene ʻAḳiva (Israel)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Women.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Jews -- Slovakia -- Nové Zámky.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Slovakia -- Šal̕a.
- Sisters.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Death marches.
Places
- Bitterfeld (Germany)
- Halle an der Saale (Germany)
- Cyprus.
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- Marseille (France)
- Šal̕a ghetto.
- Nové Zámky ghetto.
- Raguhn (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Šal̕a (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat