Esther A. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 4255
Language of Description
English
Dates
1 Jan 1999 - 31 Dec 1999
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Esther A., who was born in Sevluš, Czechoslovakia (presently Vynohradiv, Ukraine) in 1928, one of seven children. She recounts attending school; Hungarian occupation; a brother fleeing to the Soviet Union and two sisters to Budapest; anti-Jewish restrictions, including expulsion from school in 1942; round-up with her remaining family in spring 1944; deportation to the Ungvár (Uz︠h︡horod) ghetto, then six weeks later to Auschwitz/Birkenau; her uncle being shot in the head en route; separation with her sisters from her parents and youngest sister; seeing her father from afar once; encountering cousins who had been deported earlier; one sister's selection for work; no communication with other prisoner groups; transfer with her sister to Ravensbrück; their separation; transfer to Barth a few days later; slave labor in a factory; hospitalization; the prisoner physicians giving her extra food and keeping her more than a month; an evacuation march; abandonment by the guards the first night; staying in an abandoned home; moving to a prisoner of war camp; liberation by Soviet troops; repatriation to Prague; encountering a cousin who informed her that three of her sisters had survived; joining them in Budapest; learning no other immediate family survived; support from an uncle who lived in Brussels; joining him in 1948; marriage to a survivor; and the births of her children. Ms. A. discusses never losing hope, but constantly feeling terrorized in camps; believing her religious faith helped her to survive; relations among prisoners and prisoner groups; not sharing all her experiences with her children, to shield them; and feeling lucky to have had three surviving sisters.

Extent and Medium

6 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.

Related Units of Description

  • Related material: Hélène A. Holocaust testimony sister, Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.