- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Sonia R., who was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929 of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father. She describes her father's anti-Nazi activities; Gestapo harassment; emigration to Italy, then France, in January 1933 because of her father's politics; her mother's art work; expulsion from France nine months later; her father's return to Germany and her mother's refusal, leading to their divorce; moving with her mother to San Remo; her third sibling's birth; receiving government orders in October 1939 to leave because they were foreigners; a German consular official helping her mother avoid deportation to Germany; internment in Grottaminarda, then Mirabella Eclano; pervasive hunger; moving to Mercogliano; receiving a small stipend from an American relative; interrogation by an SS soldier after German occupation; hiding in a forest; liberation by Allied troops; their emigration to the United States in August 1944; internment in Fort Ontario; and release in 1946. Mrs. R. discusses not being allowed to discuss their experiences within her family; her siblings' continuing refusal to discuss that time; and her mother's strength and determination which resulted in their survival. Mrs. R. shows photographs, her mother's artwork, and documents.
- Author/Creator
- R., Sonia, 1929-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1991
- Interview Date
- November 11, 1991.
- Locale
- Germany
Hamburg (Germany)
France
San Remo (Italy)
Grottaminarda (Italy)
Mirabella Eclano (Italy)
Mercogliano (Italy)
Oswego (N.Y.)
- Cite As
- Sonia R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1987). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Pelzer, Barbara, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Related publication: Haven : the unknown story of 1,000 World War II refugees / Ruth Gruber. -- New York : Coward-McCann, c1983.
Additional documents are available in the repository.
