Overview
- Interview Summary
- Sonja Vrscaj, born in 1925 in Sezana, Italy (now Slovenia), discusses her parents’ arrest on suspicion of being Slovenian spies when Italy attacked Yugoslavia; the arrival of Slovenian refugees in her village after the 1943 Italian offensive in Stajalna; the bodies of partisans killed by Italian forces; the killing of civilians; her involvement with partisans; her arrest by German authorities in Pliskavica village in June 1944; her incarceration in Trieste, Italy; her transfer to Auschwitz in July 1944; forced labor in Birkenau; living with French Jewish women from Paris in her barrack; the Kapos and female SS guards; the arrival of transports; brutal treatment and harsh living conditions at Auschwitz; the crematorium; her transfer to Ravensbrück in October 1944; her transfer to a camp in Oranienburg; working in a telephone wire factory; the allied bombing of the camp in March 1945; her transfer with other prisoners to Sachsenhausen; the evacuation of camps during the Soviet advance; SS guards shooting weak prisoners while marching west; how only 50 out of hundreds of women survived the march; liberation by the Russians; and her return to Slovenia in September 1945.
- Interviewee
- Sonja Vrščaj
- Date
-
interview:
2009 November 18
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation
Physical Details
- Language
- Slovenian
- Extent
-
3 videocassettes (DVCAM) : sound, color ; 1/4 in..
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Slovenian. Death march survivors. Death marches. Guerrillas--Yugoslavia. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Yugoslavia. Mass murder--Slovenia. Massacres--Slovenia. Prisons--Italy--Trieste. Shooting (Execution)--Germany. State sponsored terrorism. Women concentration camp guards--Poland. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Slovenia. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Slovenia. World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Slovenian. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Germany. Italy--Armed Forces. Oranienburg (Germany) Oświęcim (Poland) Sežana (Slovenia) Slovenia--History--1918-1945. Slovenia--History--Axis occupation, 1941-1945. Slovenia. Trieste (Italy)
- Personal Name
- Vrščaj, Sonja.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. Nathan Beyrak, Project Director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch, coordinated the interview with Sonja Vrščaj on November 18, 2009 as part of the Museum's Former Yugoslavia Witnesses Documentation Project in Slovenia.
- Funding Note
- The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:17:31
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn45164
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Also in Oral history interviews of the Former Yugoslavia Witnesses Documentation Project, Slovenia
Oral history interviews of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Former Yugoslavia Witnesses Documentation Project in Slovenia.
Date: 2009
Oral history interview with Dušan Stefančič
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Oral History
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Oral History
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Oral history interview with Stanislav Kotnik
Oral History
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Oral history interview with Albin Vipotnik
Oral History
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Oral history interview with Jože Hlebanja
Oral History
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Oral history interview with France Gradišek
Oral History
France Gradišek, born in 1931 in Litija in the former Yugoslavia, describes the deportation of several families from Senozeti in 1941 and 1942 following the German occupation; many young Slovenian men joining the Partisans in 1943 following the organization of forced mobilization into the German army; his work for the Partisans; the burning of villages by Domobrans, Russians, and Germans; incidents in which German forces defended peasants from robbing by members of the White Guard; hiding weapons abandoned by partisans in his home; the order from German authorities for students in Senozeti to burn Slovenian books; the arrest of Slovenian teachers and their replacement with German teachers; arrests and executions enacted by German forces; and the burning of villages and killing of people by Domobrans and Ukrainian soldiers in 1944.
Oral history interview with Vinko Gabršek
Oral History
Vinko Gabršek, born in 1929 in Kresnice in the former Yugoslavia, describes how his family helped the partisans; his brother’s membership in the partisans; the Gestapo arresting him and his mother in 1943 as a result of their involvement with partisans; his imprisonment in Begunie; the Gestapo’s interrogation and execution of people who were suspected of being involved with partisans; his transfer to Goricane prison; his transfer to Bad Feilnback and Echsberg; the sight in Echsberg of imprisoned mentally ill patients who were later put to death; and his return to Slovenia in 1945.
Oral history interview with Helena Žnidarćić
Oral History
Helena Žnidarćić, born in 1938 in Letus in the former Yugoslavia, describes learning about the arrest of her father, uncle, and brother in June of 1942; her arrest with her sisters, mother, and grandmother in July of 1942 by German forces; her transfer to a school in Celje where she was separated from her mother and grandmother; her transfer to Frohnleiten with her sisters; Germans and nuns of the Red Cross on guard there; her transfer to the concentration camp at Kassel with her sisters; receiving new clothes and finding gold rings sewn into them; her understanding that the clothes were taken from Jews; her transfer to Meinburg where she learned the German language; her transfer to Neuschift, then Saltenberg, and then Bamugarten without her sisters; finding her grandmother in Bamugarten; reuniting with her sisters in Bamugarten in 1944 and returning to Slovenia; her brother volunteering for the German army under the condition that his sisters would be released; living with cousins in Slovenia until the end of the war; reuniting with her grandmother in Letus before liberation; the flight of German and Ustaša forces during liberation; partisans taking Germans to Hudova Jama; and the long-term effects of the Holocaust on her family.
Oral history interview with Ana Čeplak
Oral History
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Oral history interview with Anton Šercer
Oral History
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Oral history interview with Vilma Ofak
Oral History
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Oral history interview with Julijana Mancek
Oral History
Julijana Mancek, born in 1925 in Planina in the former Yugoslavia, describes her family’s collaboration with partisans; hiding partisans at her family farm; a neighbor who betrayed the actions of her family to the Gestapo; the arrest of her family by the Gestapo; their transfer to the prison in Celje; interrogation and torture in Celije; their transfer to a prison in Maribor; hearing executions from her cell; her transfer to the camp at Borl; discovering that her mother, father, and brothers had been executed in Maribor; her separation from a sister; her transfer to the camp at Frohnleiten then Coburg, where she worked in a factory; her transfer to Speinchartz where she worked in gardens and fields and remained until liberation; the death of her sisters in Auschwitz; and her return to Slovenia.
Oral history interview with Leon Bratina
Oral History
Leon Bratina, born in 1932 in the former Yugoslavia, describes the forced relocation of his family in 1941 by German forces; their transfer to Celje, then the camp at Brestanica, and then to Slavonska Pozega where the Ustaša took over command; the conditions at Slavonska Pozega, including the poor food and brutal treatment by the Ustaša; their transfer to the camp at Osijek and then the village of Belo Brdo; Ustaša removing Serbs from their homes and offering the homes to Slovenians; Slovenians refusing the homes; Slovenian families living with Serbs in Serb houses; Ustaša forcing Serbs to convert to Catholicism under the threat of deportation; moving with his family to Borovac in 1943; the family’s work for a Slovenian in Borovac; their move to the village of Petrovci; witnessing the capture and execution of a black paratrooper by German soldiers; his work in the Serb village of Krmez; hiding when Germans took all males to the prison in Vinkovci; fleeing at the sight of Ustaša murdering Serbs; moving to the village of Bogdanovci where he worked for a Croat; the sight of dead bodies in the Drava river; finding the Romani quarter of Bogdanovci empty; remaining with his family in Croatia after liberation; a camp for German soldiers guarded by partisans in 1945; and returning with his family to Slovenia.
Oral history interview with Jernej Borovnik-Bartolj
Oral History
Jernej Borovnik-Bartolj, born in 1922 in Frankolovo, Slovenia, discusses the deportation of his family from Lipe by German forces; being transferred with his family around Slovenia to Celje, Brestanica, and Slovenska Pozega; living in barracks under the control of Ustase; physical abuse of Serbian prisoners by Ustase; performing manual labor; being transferred to the village of Mali Severin and then to the Croat village Ribnjacko; the mixed population of Romani people, Croats, and Hungarians in Ribnjacko; the burning of Croat villages by Ustase; the presence of partisans; being relocated to Ravenes village; working as a farmer; joining a partisan medical team in April 1943; being arrested by German soldiers and Ustase; physical abuse while incarcerated in Osijek, Croatia; his transfer to a camp in Stara Gradiska, Croatia; poor living conditions and malnutrition in the camp; hearing about the rape and murder of young Jewish girls by Ustase; working in a shoe repair shop with a Jew and Serb; a Red Cross visit to the camp; seeing the bodies of prisoners floating in Sava River; seeing Ustase torture partisans; his release from the camp in 1943; being incarcerated in Bjelovar, Croatia and then in Zagreb, Croatia; serving in the Domobran navy station in Split, Croatia; fighting in the battles for the liberation of Pag and Rab islands; and his demobilization from the army in 1946.
Oral history interview with Tatjana F. Maslo
Oral History
Tatjana F. Maslo, born in 1933 in Celje, Slovenia, discusses the relocation of her family to Celje and then to a military barracks in Maribor, Slovenia; their transfer to a camp for Slovenians in Slavonska Požega, Slovenia; their transfer by Ustase to Topusko, Croatia where they were offered empty farms in villages; the sight of hastily buried bodies near homes; her discovery that Ustase killed the Serbs in the village; relocating to a Croat village close to Zagreb; the family’s escape after their home was bombed; the flight of Ustase towards Slovenia near the end of the war; and her return to her family home in Slovenia in June 1945.
Oral history interview with Zdravko Petrič
Oral History
Zdravko Petrič, born in 1927 in Skofja, Slovenia, discusses the April 1941 bombing of Ljubljana by the Germans; his brother who joined the partisans; his father who was taken by the Italians to Rab Island in 1941; his father’s return in 1943; the killing of his father by Domobrans; joining the partisans in September 1943; his arrest by German authorities in Iska Vas in November 1943; the German execution of 15 partisans; his transfer to Dachau concentration camp in December 1943; living in barracks with Slovenians, Croats, Italians, Poles, and Russians; the harsh living conditions in the camp; how prisoners took the bodies of dead prisoners to roll call; Jewish prisoners at Dachau; working in a war equipment factory at the camp in Nieckelretz; the brutality of SS guards; the escape and later capture of French Romani prisoners; traveling through Natzweiler and Mauthausen to Gusen 1 where he worked in an airplane factory; the hanging of a Russian prisoner who was accused of sabotaging airplane wings; the physical abuse of prisoners at the factory; his transfer to Gusen 2; liberation by American forces; and the postwar killing of an SS guard by former prisoners.
Oral history interview with Cvetko Kobal
Oral History
Cvetko Kobal, born in 1921 in Skofija Loka, discusses his involvement in the resistance movement; his arrest by the Gestapo in January 1942; his incarceration in Begunje; being tortured by German guards; his transfer to Auschwitz; brutal treatment of prisoners by German, Polish, and Romani kapos; his work clearing the yard of dead bodies; physical abuse while working on the sewage team; the hanging of Polish prisoners in the main square at roll call; Jewish prisoners in the camp; the frequent arrival of prisoner transports at night; the gassing of prisoners upon arrival; his transfer by cattle wagon to Mauthausen; being marched to Gusen concentration camp; working in a quarry; carrying dead bodies from the barracks to roll call; witnessing Jewish kapos kill Jewish prisoners in October 1943; widespread death as a result of starvation; the killing of sick prisoners by camp hospital staff; working on the construction of barracks for Russians prisoners; his transfer to a camp in Linz; and escaping the camp and joining the partisans.
Oral history interview with Albina Vogrin
Oral History
Albina Vogrin, born in 1930 in Novi Kot, Slovenia, discusses the burning of her village and arrest of all the men by Italian forces in July 1942; hiding with her family in the forest; her family’s capture and transport to Italian headquarters in Prizid; her father’s execution; her transfer to Rab concentration camp near; the death of prisoners, many of whom children, from malnutrition and dysentery; the sea flooding the camp; the transfer of women and children to Gonars concentration camp in December 1943; better living conditions and more food at Gonars; her grandmother’s death in the camp; the suicide of a female prisoner; the release of prisoners after Italy’s capitulation in September 1943; her family’s arrest by the Germans and imprisonment in Gorica; their release after her mother persuaded a guard to let them go home; and living in Draga until the end of the war.
Oral history interview with Štefanija Kogoj
Oral History
Stefanija Kogoj, born in 1925 in Papezi, Slovenia, discusses the looting and destruction of her village by Italians forces in July 1942; the removal of all village men following the conflict with partisans; being taken with her family to Rab concentration camp on the Italian occupied island; her father’s report that almost all of the village men were executed; many deaths, predominately among children, on Rab as a result of harsh living conditions and malnutrition; the death of her mother and uncle; rescuing her grandmother when the camp was flooded; being transferred with other women to Gonars concentration camp; dehumanizing behavior from Italian guards; improved living conditions in barracks and access to water; widespread death among elderly prisoners due to disease and starvation; her release after the capitulation of Italy in September 1943; returning to Papezi to discover a burned down village; and living in Croatia postwar.
Oral history interview with Ivana Zamida
Oral History
Ivana Zamida, born in 1929 in Papezi, Slovenia, discusses her time in Rab and Gonars concentration camps; surviving a flood in the camp on the island of Rab; many deaths as a result of starvation and harsh living conditions; witnessing a female prisoner’s suicide; receiving extra food from a male prisoner; receiving parcels from Ljubljana; and returning to Slovenia after the capitulation of Italy in 1943.
Oral history interview with Kristina Kverh
Oral History
Kristina Kverh, born in 1931 in Novi Kot, Slovenia, discusses the destruction of her village by Italian soldiers; the deportation of all villagers in July 1942 to Rab concentration camp; many deaths in Rab as a result of starvation and harsh living conditions; her father’s execution; her transfer to Gonars concentration camp in December 1942; her grandmother’s death at the camp in Rab; better living conditions in Gonars; having appendix surgery at a hospital in Udine, Italy; returning to Slovenia after the capitulation of Italy; and living with her aunt close to Kocevje until the end of the war.
Oral history interview with Marija Poje
Oral History
Marija Poje, born in 1922 in Novi Kot, Slovenia, discusses the arrest of her family by Italian soldiers in Stari Kot in July 1942; Italian soldiers burning down the village; her transfer to camp Kampor on the island of Rab; many deaths in the camp as a result of malnutrition and disease; the flooding of the camp; giving birth on the island of Rab; her transfer to Gonars concentration camp; difficult living conditions in the barracks; the death of her baby; the capitulation of Italy; returning to Stari Kot to find a burned down village; moving to Podpreska; her husband being forced to serve in the German offensive in 1943; and the death of her older child from malnutrition and exhaustion in December 1943.
Oral history interview with Franc Pantar
Oral History
Franc Pantar, born in 1929 in Novi Kot in the former Yugoslavia, describes the arrival of Italian forces in Novi Kot in 1942; the arrest of his family and village, and their deportation to Rab concentration camp; the harsh conditions in the camp, resulting in the deaths of his sister and grandfather; his transfer to Gonars concentration camp; the camp's poor food and hygiene; an incident in which he participated in the removal of corpses from the camp to the cemetery; his return home after the capitulation of Italy; and his family moving to the village of Podpreska.
Oral history interview with Julijana Janeš
Oral History
Julijana Janeš, born in 1933 in the former Yugoslavia, describes her brothers joining a partisan unit in 1942; the arrest of her village in 1942 by Italian forces and their transfer to Rab concentration camp in Kampor; the harsh conditions in the camp, resulting in the deaths of her grandparents; her transfer to Gonars concentration camp; conditions in the camp, resulting in the death of her neice; returning home after the capitulation of Italy; moving to the village of Podpreska; and the sight of Chetnicks withdrawing from Serbia and Croatia at the end of the war.
Oral history interview with Dana V. Klanjšček
Oral History
Dana V. Klanjšček, born in 1922 in the former Yugoslavia, describes her participation in the resistance movement; her arrest by Italian police in 1942 and imprisonment in Venice and then Padova; her return to Slovenia in 1943 after the capitulation of Italy; her arrest and interrogation by the Bela Garda; her transfer to Ravensbrück and then Grünberg labor camp; a forced march in 1945 in which the guards deserted the group of prisoners; Soviet soldiers informing them of the end of the war; her return to Slovenia; and the death of her brother after the war as a result off his treatment in concentration camps.
Oral history interview with Alojz S. Kunej
Oral History
Alojz S. Kunej, born in 1923 in the former Yugoslavia, describes the German occupation of Krsko; the banning of the Slovenian language; Slovenian Germans moving to Krsko; his examination to determine if he could be granted German citizenship; the deportation of his family to the concentration camp in Reichenberg (Liberec, Czech Republic) in 1941; his forced labor in a neighboring factory; and returning home after liberation to find his home looted.
Oral history interview with Janez Štiglic
Oral History
Janez Štiglic, born in 1938 in the former Yugoslavia, describes his deportation to the concentration camp at Celje in 1942; mass shootings in Celje, which resulted in the death of his father; the death of his mother in Auschwitz; his transfer between different concentration camps; being a subject to medical experimentation; his liberation in 1945 by American forces; his return to Slovenia with his neighbor and brother; and the long-term effects of his experiences during the war on his life.
Oral history interview with Miloš Poljanšek
Oral History
Miloš Poljanšek, born in 1923 in the former Yugoslavia, describes his deportation to Somobor and then Ljubljana in 1941; joining the resistance movement; his arrest and interrogation by Italian police in 1943; two Jewish prisoners in his cell in the prison in Ljubljana; his transfer to a prison in Kopar; his transfer to Hamburg Neuengamme concentration camp in 1943 by German fores; conditions in the concentration camp; his release in 1944 and return to Slovenia; and his time in a working brigade until the end of the war.
