Fernande H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2667) interviewed by Colette Zumstein and Henri Borlant,
Videotape testimony of Fernande H., who was born in Paris, France in 1923. She recalls being the middle of five children; working for a small company; one brother's deportation in 1942 and her mother's in 1943; another brother joining the Resistance and escaping to England; her father and two brothers going into hiding; being arrested in 1944 for not wearing the star when her boss was investigated for hiding British parachutists; visits from non-Jewish friends; incarceration in Drancy for one month; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in May 1944; a month in quarantine; during forced labor, sabotaging the building of a road to the crematoria to delay its completion; hiding during selections; prisoners in Canada Kommando smuggling extra things to them; a brief encounter with Henri Borlant, her Paris neighbor; transfer to Bergen-Belsen in January 1945; liberation by British troops; recuperating in Bergen-Belsen; repatriation via Hotel Lutetia in Paris; reunion with her father and brothers; and marriage three years later. Mrs. H. discusses persistent hope her brother would return (he did not); continuing nightmares; intergroup relations in the camps; her son's participation in a second generation group; and his understanding her reluctance to talk about these experiences. She shows family photographs.
- Published
- Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1993
- Interview Date
- June 15, 1993.
- Locale
- France
Paris (France) - Language
-
French
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Cite As
- Fernande H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2665). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
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View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4288526
Record last modified: 2018-06-04 13:31:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4288526