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Helga B. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2341) interviewed by Dana L. Kline and Joanne Weiner Rudof,

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2341

Overview

Summary: Videotape testimony of Helga B., who was born in Berlin, Germany in approximately 1928. She recalls her chronic childhood illness; her family's strong German Jewish identity; the impact of the Nuremberg laws on her life, including having to attend a Jewish school; the glass-littered Kurfürstendamm following Kristallnacht; her father fleeing to Holland (she never saw him again); and being smuggled into Belgium with her mother in the summer of 1939. Mrs. B. recounts living in Brussels; attending a Catholic school; German occupation; deteriorating conditions; receiving assistance from the Joint; the trauma of her mother's death in May 1942; working in Jewish children's homes in Brussels and Wezembeek; evacuating the children when the underground warned of an impending raid; and liberation by Allied troops. She describes working in Belgium; emigration to join relatives in the United States in 1950; the psychological impact of her experience including her continuing sense of the loss of her parents; and speaking to groups and classes about the Holocaust. She reads her poetry and shows cards her father sent from Theresienstadt.
Author/Creator: B., Helga, 1928?-
Published: New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1993
Interview Date: December 3, 1993.
Locale: Belgium
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Brussels (Belgium)
Wezembeek-Oppem (Belgium)
Cite As: Helga B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2341). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Other Authors/Editors: Kline, Dana L., interviewer.
Rudof, Joanne Weiner, interviewer.
Notes: Additional written materials are available in the repository.

Physical Details

Language: English
Copies: 3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Physical Description: 1 videorecording (2 hr., 51 min.) : col

Keywords & Subjects

Subjects (Local Yale): Antisemitism Prewar.
Aid by non-Jews.
Child survivors.
Postwar effects.
Postwar experiences.
Crystal Night, 1938.
Mutual aid.
Hiding.
Subjects: Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Women. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Children. Mothers and daughters. Orphanages. Jews--Migrations. Jewish refugees. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Belgium. Citizenship--Germany. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Germany. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poetry. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Psychological aspects. Germany. Berlin (Germany) Kristallnacht, 1938. Brussels (Belgium) Wezembeek-Oppem (Belgium) Oral histories (document genres) B., Helga,--1928?- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Special Collection: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Link to Yale University Library Catalog:: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1072612
Record last modified:: 2018-06-04 13:31:00
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1072612

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