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Elizabeth K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2565) interviewed by Naomi Rappaport,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2565

Videotape testimony of Elizabeth K., who was born in Nagyrozvágy, Hungary, one of seven children. She recalls a close extended family; cordial relations with non-Jews; attending public school; her family's orthodoxy; not attending high school due to new anti-Jewish restrictions; German invasion in 1944; ghettoization with her family in Sátoraljaújhely; her grandfather's death; assistance from a Romani who had worked for them; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation with two sisters from their family; humiliation at having to strip for selections; remaining with her sisters, but not revealing they were related fearing separation; assignment sorting clothing of murdered Jews; finding her younger sister's dress; taking food and clothing to share with others; discarding money they found so the Germans could not have it; lighting Sabbath candles and fasting on Yom Kippur; transfer to Beendorf, Bergen-Belsen, then Braunschweig; clearing bombing debris; destroying anything valuable she found so the Germans could not use it; transport to Sweden via Denmark in spring 1945 in the Folke Bernadotte prisoner exchange; living with her older sister in Uppsala; learning from the Red Cross their father had survived; emigration with her older sister to the United States in 1948 (her younger sister and father emigrated to Israel); assistance from the Joint and HIAS; and marriage to a survivor in 1951. Ms. K. discusses her daughter's death at age eight; sharing her experiences with her other daughter; continued hatred of the SS; a recent trip to Auschwitz/Birkenau and Nagyrozvágy with her family, where they placed gravestones for their mother and siblings; and her deep sense of loss (only five of her family of over seventy survived). She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
K., Elizabeth, 1928-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1993
Interview Date
June 18, 1993.
Locale
Hungary
Sátoraljaújhely
Nagyrozvágy (Hungary)
Denmark
Uppsala (Sweden)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Elizabeth K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2565). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4288078
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:44:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4288078