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Edith L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1469) interviewed by Irene Wasserkrug and Judith Fogel,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1469

Videotape testimony of Edith L., who was born in Ústí nad Labem (Aussig), Czechoslovakia in 1920. She recalls cordial relations with non-Jews; disbelief that conditions in Germany would impact them; studying in Prague; her sister's emigration to the United States in 1938; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; her father's death; deportation with her husband to Terezín in 1941; the fraudulent staging of "good conditions" for a Red Cross delegation; deportation to Birkenau in May 1944; her husband's transfer to a work camp (she never saw him again); transfer to Christianstadt six months later; hiding the pregnancy of a prisoner; the trauma of the baby's murder; subsequent emotional numbness; a death march to Czechoslovakia; an SS guard's offer of assistance; arrival at Bergen-Belsen; witnessing cannibalism; and liberation by British troops. Mrs. L. recalls her long recovery; help from former neighbors when she returned to her hometown; and emigration to Ecuador, then the United States. She reflects upon the randomness of survival and her unwillingness to revisit the camps - "to put her foot down on Jewish blood."

Author/Creator
L., Edith, 1920-
Published
Baltimore, Md. : Baltimore Jewish Council, 1989
Interview Date
February 19, 1989.
Locale
Czechoslovakia
Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Edith L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1469). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1088185
Record last modified: 2018-06-04 13:27:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1088185