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Antonia R. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1081) interviewed by Raphael Rozner,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1081

Videotape testimony of Antonia R., who was born in Lipany, Czechoslovakia. She recalls attending school in Prešov; anti-Jewish restrictions; deportion with her sister from Poprad to Auschwitz in March 1942; an SS officer taking special notice of her hair; slave labor in a mine, then in Canada Kommando; learning her brother had arrived; a futile attempt to see him; their transfer to Birkenau; the same SS asking about her hair; obtaining a privileged job because of him; the officer beating her sister, then transferring her to a better job upon learning who she was; losing their will to live; entering a truck to the crematoria; being pulled out by the SS man; the January 1945 death march to Ravensbrück; transfer to Malchow; continuing the death march; and liberation by United States troops. Mrs. R. describes transfer to Lübeck, then Schwerin; being ordered "home;" going to Belgium instead of Slovakia; living with families in Brussels; meeting Jewish Brigade soldiers; her sister's marriage to one and her marriage to another's brother (a Hungarian survivor); and their emigration to Israel. She discusses her amazement upon arrival that Jews were living normally in Israel; she and her husband refusing to discuss their experiences with their children; emotional turning points in the camps; and testifying at the trial of the SS man who saved her.

Author/Creator
R., Antonia.
Published
Ramat Aviv, Israel : Beth Hatefutsoth, Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, 1984
Interview Date
September 21, 1984.
Locale
Prešov (Slovakia)
Czechoslovakia
Poprad (Slovakia)
Lübeck (Germany)
Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
Belgium
Brussels (Belgium)
Israel
Language
Hebrew
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Antonia R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1081). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.