Overview
- Summary
- 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.
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1992
- Interview Date
- December 9, 1992.
- Locale
- Poland
Łódź
Łódź (Poland) - Cite As
- Madeleine S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2246). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Physical Description
- 1 videorecording (1 hr., 15 min.) : col
Keywords & Subjects
- Subjects (Local Yale)
- Aid by non-Jews.
Child survivors.
Mutual aid.
Postwar experiences. - Subjects
- Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Women. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Children. Jewish ghettos. Jews--Poland--Łódź. Orphanages--Poland. Friendship. Refugee camps. Forced labor. Łódź (Poland) Poland. Oral histories (document genres) S., Madeleine,--1927- Rumkowski, Mordecai Ḥayim. Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Birkenau (Concentration camp) Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp) American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. DP-Camp Bergen-Belsen.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
- Special Collection
-
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
- Link to Yale University Library Catalog:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4287064
- Record last modified:
- 2018-05-29 11:47:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4287064
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