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Irène Z. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2167) interviewed by Josette Zarka and Claudine Drame,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2167

Videotape testimony of Irène Z., who recalls evacuation with her family from Paris to the Nièvre region after the outbreak of war; her father's death; living in a village for a year; returning to Paris; working with her mother in their boutique; her older brother's arrest and deportation (they never saw him again); hiding on July 16, 1942; arrest of her mother and brother; unsuccessfully trying to join them in the Vélodrome d'Hiver; learning they were sent to Pithiviers; arranging to hide her twelve year old brother; acquiring false papers in Lyon; joining the Resistance as a courier in Grenoble; arrest and interrogation by the Gestapo; futilely maintaining she was not Jewish; deportation to Drancy, then to Auschwitz; working in the kitchen; public hanging of a Belgian who was caught escaping; assisting in the delivery of a baby; the death march; train evacuation to a camp near Hamburg; liberation by Soviet troops; and returning to Paris. Mrs. Z. recalls marriage to a survivor; her loss of belief in God due to her experience; her son's perception of her experience; her sense of being Jewish (not religiously) and a humanist.

Author/Creator
Z., Irène.
Published
Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1991
Interview Date
December 5, 1991.
Locale
France
Paris (France)
Lyon (France)
Grenoble (France)
Nièvre (France)
Language
French
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Irene Z. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2167). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1108267
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:32:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1108267