- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Rebecca L., who was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1908, one of ten children. She recalls her family spending World War I in London; the births of two siblings there; returning to Antwerp; working as a diamond cutter starting at age sixteen; marriage in 1933; her sister's incarceration in Wurttemburg in 1941 as an English citizen; some family members hiding, while others were deported; her husband encouraging her to join the resistance; arrest in 1943; imprisonment in Antwerp, St. Gilles, Luxembourg, and Aix-La-Chapelle, (presently Allach); singing resistance songs to maintain morale; kindness from a guard; and deportation to Auschwitz. She describes crying upon hearing of the gas chambers and never crying again; learning of the deaths of her father and brother; work assignments in Birkenau including the Canada Kommando; protection by friends; Mala Zimetbaum's escape, capture, and public hanging; the death march to Ravensbrück in January 1945; forced labor in several German camps; friends carrying her when she could not walk on the last death march; liberation by Soviet troops in Ries; reunion with surviving family in Brussels; and her divorce. Mrs. L. shows photographs; sings partisan songs; and lists many relatives who were killed.
- Author/Creator
- L., Rebecca, 1908-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1992
- Interview Date
- June 24, 1992.
- Locale
- Belgium
Brussels (Belgium)
Antwerp (Belgium)
London (England)
Luxembourg
Aachen (Germany)
Ries (Germany)
- Cite As
- Rebecca L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1976). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Chaumont, Jean-Michel, interviewer.
Margos, Rina, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
Associated material: Sarah G. Holocaust testimony [friend] (HVT-1980), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
