Irene H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2846) interviewed by Dorit Welt and Henri Borlant

Videotape testimony of Irene H., who was born in Nagykanizsa, Hungary circa 1922. She recalls her close family; antisemitic laws; her brother's draft into a forced labor battalion; moving to Budapest in 1944; German invasion on March 19; returning home; incarceration with her family in the synagogue in April; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her family upon arrival on May 2; assistance from the Slovak head of the block (she saved many prisoners); assignment to the Union Kommando; receiving extra food; sharing it with other prisoners; extermination of the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager); public hanging of women who supplied the Sonderkommando revolt with explosives; the death march, then train transport in January 1945; escape and recapture with two others; assistance from a German woman; arrival in Ravensbrück; transfer to Neustadt-Glewe; disappearance of guards; liberation by Soviet troops; recuperating in Prenzlau; returning to Nagykanizsa; learning her father and brother had been killed; moving to Budapest; marriage; and emigration to France. Mrs. H. discusses details of camp life including singing, her state of mind, and relations among national groups; insisting on leaving Hungary; and the importance of sharing her experience with young people. She shows photographs.