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Bernice B. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1161) interviewed by Jeanette Peckerman and Sandy Hoffman,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1161

Videotape testimony of Bernice B., who was born in Strzemieszyce Wielkie, Poland in 1925, the oldest of five children. She recalls pervasive antisemitism; German invasion; expulsion from their house; hiding during round-ups; ghettoization; forced factory labor; deportation to Neustadt in 1942 (she never saw her family again); transfer after three years to Flossenbürg, then Bergen-Belsen; liberation; returning home seeking surviving family; leaving when she found no one; living in Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; marriage in 1946; her son's birth; and emigration to the United States. Ms. B. discusses surviving due to her hope that she would reunite with her family; observing Jewish holidays in camp; and severe depression, loss of belief in God, and suicidal thoughts upon learning no one in her family had survived. She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
B., Bernice, 1925-
Published
Milwaukee, Wis. : Generation After of Milwaukee, 1988
Interview Date
October 10, 1988.
Locale
Poland
Strzemieszyce Wielkie
Strzemieszyce Wielkie (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Bernice B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1161). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.