Madeleine S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2246) interviewed by Pam Goodman

Videotape testimony of Madeleine S., who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1927. She recalls German occupation; removing her star to buy bread; ghettoization; moving into her uncle's and aunt's apartment; her father's deportation (she never saw him again); attending high school; forced labor in a sewing factory; her mother's death; studying in the factory school; being "adopted" by Ḥayim Rumkowski and living with twelve others - "his children"; receiving better food and treatment; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in August 1944; remaining with three friends from the Rumkowski group; a German civilian bringing them food; sharing food with each other; their transfer to Hamburg; slave labor clearing bombing rubble; discussing their favorite foods; vicious female SS guards; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; starvation; liberation by British troops; separation from her three friends who were hospitalized; living in Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; working for the Joint; and emigrating to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. discusses Rumkowski's love of children, which saved her life, and having no choice about working with the Germans; continuing contact with her camp friends; not wanting to visit Poland; and writing about her experiences.