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Oral history interview with Dolly Bestandig

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1997.A.0424 | RG Number: RG-50.106.0073

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    Oral history interview with Dolly Bestandig

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Dolly Bestandig (née Hirsch), born July 24, 1939 in Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania, discusses her family, which had been in Lithuania for 11 generations; her father, who was a mathematical engineer, and her mother, who was a concert pianist; how her parents were both very religious and wealthy; being sent to the Vilna ghetto, the hardship of which marked the beginning of her mother’s psychological changes; the presence of 90 members of her mother’s family in the ghetto; how at age five, after living in the Minsk ghetto, she and her mother were sent to Auschwitz, where her mother managed to save her life by hiding her in a garbage can during the day while her mother worked; being moved to Bergen-Belsen with her mother and father after four months, where she was again hidden in a garbage can every day until liberation on April 15, 1945 by English soldiers; being sent to Sweden for medical care; being hospitalized in Gothenburg and then in Stockholm, where surgery on her palate was performed; leaving Sweden in 1947 and going to New York, where an uncle met her family; going to Mexico City, where two uncles were waiting; how her mother’s psychological state was deteriorating and she died in 1958; having flashbacks to her life in the camps; going to the Margaret Sanger Institute in New York City in 1967, where she received counseling help and tuberculosis was found throughout her body; recovering and adopting two children; being the Sub-Director of Hebrew instruction at the Yeshiva in Mexico City; and her feelings about her survival.
    Interviewee
    Ms. Dolly Bestandig
    Interviewer
    Gail Schwartz
    Date
    interview:  1997 July 27
    Geography
    creation: Washington (D.C.)

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    3 sound cassettes (74 min.).

    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
    Child concentration camp inmates--Germany--Bergen (Celle) Child concentration camp inmates--Poland--Oswiecim. Child concentration camp inmates--Psychological aspects. Hidden children (Holocaust)--Germany--Bergen (Celle) Hidden children (Holocaust)--Poland--Oswiecim. Holocaust survivors--Mexico. Holocaust survivors--Psychological aspects. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Lithuania--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust--Personal narratives. Jewish families--Lithuania--Vilnius. Jewish ghettos--Belarus--Minsk. Jewish ghettos--Lithuania--Vilnius. Jewish women in the Holocaust--Lithuania. Jews--Lithuania--Vilnius. Tuberculosis. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Lithuania. World War, 1939-1945--Medical care--Sweden. Women--Personal narratives.
    Personal Name
    Bestandig, Dolly.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Gail Schwartz, a volunteer for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History branch conducted this interview on July 27, 1997 in Washington, DC. The interview was transferred to the Archives on July 27, 1997.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:12:17
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn507570

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