- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Cecile L., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1923. She recalls moving to Antwerp; living in the Jewish quarter; being placed in a Jewish class at school; antisemitism; German invasion; fleeing with her parents to De Panne, then France (Ambleteuse and Calais); returning to Antwerp; arranging for her grandmother to join them by writing a letter to the Belgian queen; living with her mother (her father was in hiding); attending a Jewish teacher training course in Ghent; teaching in a Jewish orphanage in Brussels; anti-Jewish restrictions; hiding with her parents in several places; she and another girl smuggling themselves to Switzerland via France with assistance from a German guard; surrendering to the police in Biel; internment in nine camps, including Bern, Langenbruck, Brissago, and Lucerne; close friendship with a camp leader; several nervous breakdowns; reunion with her parents in Switzerland; returning to Antwerp after the war; studying in Geneva; and emigrating to the United States in 1954. Mrs. L. discusses physical and emotional illnesses arising from her wartime experiences; her activities with Holocaust organizations; and the difficulties Belgian Jews faced in hiding or resisting.
- Author/Creator
- L., Cecile, 1923-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1992
- Interview Date
- April 9, 1992.
- Locale
- Switzerland
Berlin (Germany)
Germany
Antwerp (Belgium)
De Panne (Belgium)
Ambleteuse (France)
Calais (France)
Ghent (Belgium)
Brussels (Belgium)
Biel (Bern, Switzerland)
Bern (Switzerland)
Langenbruck (Switzerland)
Brissago (Switzerland)
Lucerne (Switzerland)
Geneva (Switzerland)
- Cite As
- Cecile L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT- 2020). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Blinderman, Joni-Sue, interviewer.
