Irene W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1020) interviewed by Sandy Hoffman and Mary Hughes,

Videotape testimony of Irene W., who was born in Zawiercie, Poland in 1925, one of six children. She recounts her father's death in 1936; moving to Warsaw to join two older siblings living with relatives; German invasion; anti-Jewish violence; ghettoization; her older brother leaving for home; being smuggled out by non-Jews from Zawiercie; traveling to Wolbrom, then Pilica; living with her uncle and grandfather; smuggling herself with a cousin to Zawiercie; difficulties obtaining food since she was not registered; deportation with other girls to Sosnowiec, then Gabersdorf in February 1942; slave labor in a textile factory; receiving letters from home for a while; deteriorating conditions as time passed; arrival of Hungarians in 1944; learning from them of extermination camps (she wanted to die then); liberation; returning to Zawiercie; meeting a cousin; smuggling themselves to Germany; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage; her son's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Ms. W. discusses relations between women in the camp; assisting each other; the camp organization; continuing fears and nightmares resulting from her experiences; not sharing her story with her children; and recently visiting her father's grave in Poland. She shows photographs.