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Bela F. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2904) interviewed by Brana Gurewitsch,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2904

Videotape testimony of Bela F., who was born in Radom, Poland in 1924. She recalls her happy, observant childhood; attending Jewish school; being rounded-up in September 1939 while playing; forced labor in Polanów; joining her family in the Radom ghetto; continued forced labor in Polanów; obtaining false papers; her father's arrest outside the ghetto; his execution in February 1942; working in a factory outside Radom; her mother's refusal to join her; the ghetto's liquidation (she never saw her mother, sister, and brother again); transfer to Bliżyn in May 1943; forced labor; beatings; contracting typhus; a friend obtaining medicine for her; transfer to Auschwitz in May 1944; a guard assisting in an escape attempt; transfer to Birkenau; relations among prisoner groups; observing religious holidays; escaping a selection; transfer to Kratzau in November 1944; forced labor in a munitions factory; smuggling munitions to Czech partisans; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Radom; leaving due to antisemitic violence; living in Prague and Paris; marriage; and emigration to the United States via Israel and Brazil. Mrs. F. discusses her close relations with her children due to her experiences and her desire to inform others about what happened.

Author/Creator
F., Bela, 1924-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1994
Interview Date
March 8, 1994.
Locale
Poland
Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie)
Czechoslovakia
Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
Polanów (Poland)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Paris (France)
Israel
Brazil
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Bela F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2904). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.