- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Ilse W., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1915. She recounts her father's service in World War I; her parents' prosperous businesses; celebrating Jewish holidays with her large and close extended family; destruction of their synagogue on Kristallnacht; arrest and immediate release; her brother's emigration to Palestine and her sister's to England in 1939; obtaining visas for Shanghai; traveling to Genoa to board a ship; being prevented from leaving by the outbreak of war; marriage; internment with her mother in San Fele and Potenza (men were interned elsewhere); her son's birth; her husband's death from appendicitis; hiding from the Germans in Bella, with assistance from the local Italians; liberation by the Jewish brigade of the British army; leaving for the United States from Aversa with her son and parents in 1944 under a special war refugee act; being escorted by Ruth Gruber (she wrote a book about the experience); living in Fort Ontario refugee camp; Eleanor Roosevelt's visit; a concert by Isaac Stern; release in January 1946; and two subsequent marriages. Mrs. W. discusses the friendliness and generosity of Italians toward them. She shows photographs and documents.
- Author/Creator
- W., Ilse, 1915-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1992
- Interview Date
- September 17, 1992.
- Locale
- Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Genoa (Italy)
Potenza (Italy)
Bella (Italy)
San Fele (Italy)
Aversa (Italy)
- Cite As
- Ilse W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2177). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Blinderman, Joni-Sue, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Related publication: Haven : the unknown story of 1,000 World War II refugees / Ruth Gruber. -- New York : Coward-McCann, c1983.
