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Anita S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2556) interviewed by Joanne Weiner Rudof and Barbara Hadley Katz,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2556

Videotape testimony of Anita S., who was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1930. She recalls her family's affluence; German occupation; confiscation of their house; her mother bribing an official to avoid the family's deportation; her uncle's suicide in 1940; deportation with her family to Theresienstadt in 1942; living with her mother and brother; participating in organized activities, including an opera; their transfer to Auschwitz in 1943; assignment to Birkenau's family camp; her father's transfer to Germany in 1944; separation from her mother and brother (she never saw them again); transfer to Hamburg; arduous forced labor; being "adopted" by Czech prisoners; Allied bombardments; receiving food and a birthday treat from a German soldier; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; horrendous conditions; witnessing cannibalism; and liberation by British troops. Mrs. S. recounts transport to Prague; living in an orphanage; learning her father had been killed; attending art school; joining Haganah; emigrating to Israel in 1948; fighting in the Israel-Arab War; her son's birth; and moving to the United States. She discusses pervasive fear in the camps; shielding her mother; anger that none of her family survived; and regrets that she has not told her son enough about her experiences. She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
S., Anita, 1930-
Published
New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1994
Interview Date
July 21, 1994.
Locale
Czech Republic
Brno (Czech Republic)
Czechoslovakia
Hamburg (Germany)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Israel
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Anita S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2556). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.