- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Elaine L., who was born in Bilki, Czechoslovakia in 1923. She recounts six siblings; her father being killed in crossfire during Hungarian occupation in March 1939; learning of mass killings in Poland from an escapee; her brothers's draft into Hungarian forced labor battalions; traveling to Budapest to help her sister-in-law with their business in Berehove; returning to Bilki; deportation with her mother and sister to the Berehove ghetto; separation from her mother and sister-in-law upon arrival at Auschwitz (she never saw them again); transfer with her sister to Gelsenkirchen; Allied bombardments; celebrating Jewish holidays; dreaming her brothers in the United States would rescue them; helping friends in the infirmary; sabotaging work at a munitions factory in another camp; return to Gelsenkirchen; escaping with her sister from a death march; hiding with a German family; walking to Czechoslovakia; from Prague, contacting her family in the United States with assistance from HIAS; fleeing from Belki due to antisemitic incidents; marriage in Kraslice; and emigration to the United States in 1946. Mrs. L. discusses the importance of being with her sister to her survival and reluctance to share her experience with her American siblings and her children. She shows photographs.
- Author/Creator
- L., Elaine, 1923-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1989
- Interview Date
- November 5, 1989.
- Locale
- Ukraine
Berehove
Czechoslovakia
Bilky (Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ, Ukraine)
Berehove (Ukraine)
Budapest (Hungary)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Kraslice (Czech Republic)
- Cite As
- Elaine L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1290). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Schiff, Gabriele, interviewer.
