Ilse W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2253) interviewed by Barbara Hadley Katz and Helen Katz,

Videotape testimony of Ilse W., who was born in Rotenburg, Germany in 1927. She recalls anti-Jewish harassment; her older brother attending a Jewish boarding school in Kassel; moving to Frankfurt in 1936 hoping it would be safer if they were in a bigger city; attending Jewish school (the Philanthropin) with her brother; increasing isolation; a former maid who smuggled food to them; and difficulty comprehending their changing situation. Mrs. W. recounts Kristallnacht; her father's arrest and incarceration in Buchenwald; his release and emigration to Holland; leaving for England in June 1939 on a children's transport; and her father accompanying her during the train trip through Holland. She describes cruel treatment in a school for refugee children in the British countryside; smuggling a letter to Bloomsbury House describing conditions; the subsequent disbandment of the school; her transfer to a wonderful home in Folkstone; corresponding with her father; learning of her family's emigration to the United States; joining them in Chicago in February 1940; and their efforts to earn a living and become educated.