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Giselle W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3075) interviewed by Jean Gerber,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3075

Videotape testimony of Giselle W., who was born in Kraków, Poland in 1902, one of six children. She recounts their affluence; moving to Vienna in 1914 due to the outbreak of war; two brothers serving in enemy armies, one in the Austrian, one in the French; a rich and exciting cultural life after the war which ended with the Anschluss; non-Jews helping them; her engagement (her fiancé went to Australia); she and her sister traveling illegally to join three brothers in Paris (the fourth was in Italy); her parents joining them; becoming "legal" after German invasion; hiding from round-ups with her sister (she was married to a non-Jew which protected them); hiding with other French non-Jews; traveling with her parents and sister and her family to the unoccupied zone; returning to Paris; deportation of one brother and her parents (she never saw them again); caring for another brother's son in hiding; meeting her future husband, a non-Jewish Canadian, after liberation; marriage; living in Berlin; emigrating to Canada; a warm reception by her husband's family (his six children have lovingly treated her like a mother); and his death in 1982. She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
W., Giselle, 1902-
Published
Vancouver, B.C. : Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society, 1985
Interview Date
June 26, 1985.
Locale
Poland
Kraków (Poland)
Vienna (Austria)
Paris (France)
Austria
Berlin (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Giselle W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3075). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.