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Gitta W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3123) interviewed by Dori Laub, Eva Lezzi, and Cathy S. Gelbin,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3123

Videotape testimony of Gitta W., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1934. She notes vague memories of being loved and hearing marching in the Berlin streets; traveling to Belgium; living in a house with her parents and relatives; German invasion; fleeing to Paris, then Nice; her malaise at seeing her parents very upset; difficulties in school; her father and uncle escaping when the families were arrested; release with her cousin; hiding with her father, uncle, and cousin; escaping after detection by the Gestapo; hiding with other Jews in a small village and Marseille; placement in a convent in Monaco after their rescuers were betrayed as resistants; the Mother Superior refusing to baptize them, reaffirming their Jewish identity; transfer to a family; liberation by United States troops; reunion with her father in Nice; and learning her uncle had been deported (her cousin remained with them). Mrs. W. discusses finding comfort in Catholicism when she was in hiding; her father searching for relatives; guilt that she left her mother; profound sorrow that her mother did not return and that she does not know her fate; feeling she did not help her father enough after the war; psychological problems due to her war experiences; difficulties trying to reestablish themselves in Berlin; and bitterness toward those who profited from the war and denied responsibility for the Holocaust. She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
W., Gitta, 1934-
Published
Potsdam, Germany : Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Universität Potsdam, 1995
Interview Date
May 11, 1995.
Locale
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Marseille (France)
Belgium
Paris (France)
Nice (France)
Monaco
Language
German
Copies
2 copies: Betacam SP dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Gitta W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3123). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4290693
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:33:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4290693