Overview
- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Rachel O., who was born in Pabianice, Poland. She describes Zionist activities; marriage; German occupation; fleeing with her husband from Łódź to Warsaw; their unsuccessful flight to the Soviet zone; a trip to Pabianice, posing as a German, to help her family; organizing a soup kitchen in the Warsaw ghetto; moving to the Pabianice ghetto with assistance from Polish acquaintances; transfer to the Łódź ghetto; Ḥayim Rumkowski's efforts to help children through the Judenrat; deportation to Auschwitz in September 1944; separation from her parents and husband (she never saw them again); transfer to an ammunition factory in Freiberg; hiding her pregnancy with assistance from fellow prisoners; giving birth in a train during evacuation in April 1945; and liberation from Mauthausen by United States troops on May 8, 1945. Mrs. O. recalls returning with her sisters and son to Pabianice; remarriage in Munich; and emigration to Israel in 1948. She discusses caring for three younger sisters in the camps and after liberation; sharing her experiences with grandchildren; and her belief that people did not change during the war, but exposed their true selves.
- Published
- Wilmette, Ill. : Holocaust Education Foundation, 1984
- Interview Date
- March 25, 1984.
- Locale
- Poland
Warsaw
Pabianice
Łódź
Pabianice (Poland)
Łódź (Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Munich (Germany)
Israel - Cite As
- Rachel O. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-556). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Physical Description
- 1 videorecording (1 hr., 18 min.) : col
Keywords & Subjects
- Subjects (Local Yale)
- Childbirth in concentration camps.
Husband Death.
Aid by non-Jews.
Mutual aid.
Postwar experiences. - Subjects
- Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Women. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Zionists. Jewish ghettos. Jews--Poland--Warsaw. Jews--Poland--Pabianice. Jews--Poland--Łódź. Forced labor. Mothers and sons. Sisters. Jewish councils. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Psychological aspects. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Poland. Pabianice (Poland) Łódź (Poland) Warsaw (Poland) Munich (Germany) Israel. Oral histories (document genres) O., Rachel. Rumkowski, Mordecai Ḥayim. Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Freiberg (Concentration camp) Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
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/1108235
- Record last modified:
- 2018-05-29 11:46:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1108235
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