Irene F. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2483) interviewed by Rivie Zeiler

Videotape testimony of Irene F., who was born in Drohobych, Poland (presently Ukraine) in 1931, the youngest of three children. She recounts her family's affluence; Soviet occupation in September 1939; moving to avoid deportation to Siberia; German invasion in 1941; an immediate pogrom; hiding with non-Jews for three days; her brother's illness and death; her father and sister obtaining jobs exempting them from deportation; her father trading goods for food; hiding with her mother during round-ups; organizing classes with other children; her father obtaining work papers for her as a kitchen worker; sleeping in a basement to avoid round-ups; the family being caught; her mother running so she would not have to witness their shooting; hearing gunfire; their release; returning to their quarters; finding her mother, who had been slightly wounded; her father contacting their former maid who smuggled her out of the ghetto; hiding with her by herself for ten months; her mother joining her; arrival of her father and sister when the ghetto was liquidated; her father leaving because they could not all hide in one room; a religious Christian hiding her father and bringing them news of him monthly; informing them her father had been caught; liberation by Soviets in June 1944; their clandestine departure to protect their rescuer from antisemitic reprisals; traveling to Kraków; reunion with her father; their rescuer living with them as a cherished family member; attending school; pervasive antisemitism; and emigration with her family to Israel in 1950, then to the United States in 1954. Ms. F. discusses not sharing her experiences for many years; writing about them for her son; continuing contact with their rescuer; and she and her sister bringing her to the United States for a six-week visit in the 1970s.