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Ruth E. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3195)

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3195

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    Overview

    Summary
    Videotape testimony of Ruth E., who was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia in 1922, one of two sisters. She recalls her parents' divorce; living with her paternal grandmother, then an uncle and aunt; their affluence; attending Jewish school, a German high school, then boarding school in Opava; participating in Maccabi; German occupation; anti-Jewish restrictions; she and her sister hiding with relatives; joining their father in Brno, then a nearby village; living with a farmer, using false papers (she later learned they knew they were Jews); deportation to Theresienstadt in April 1942; marriage to someone who was not on a deportation list, thus separating herself from her father and sister who were on a list (she never saw them again); caring for the elderly, including collecting corpses; transfer to a privileged kitchen job; sharing extra food with her husband and others; participating in an opera group; realizing she was pregnant; deportation with her husband and his mother to Birkenau; placement in the Theresienstadt “family camp”; useless slave labor; Fredy Hirsch caring for the children; avoiding a selection for death; transfer to Hamburg; slave labor in a refinery and clearing bombing rubble; transfer with another pregnant woman to Ravensbrück, then to Auschwitz a day later; hospitalization; the birth of a daughter; Mengele ordering her breasts tied so she could not nurse; a Czech prisoner-doctor helping her kill the baby; losing her will to live; transfer to Taucha; a privileged assignment in a bakery; smuggling bread to share with others; the Kommandant ordering her to stage a show after he heard her sing; producing a cabaret with other prisoners, including Romanies; abandonment by the guards; leaving with other Czechs; encountering United States troops who cared for them in Ponitz; traveling to Prague, Brno, and Ostrava; reunion with her husband; their separation; marriage in Prague; and emigration to Israel in 1949. Ms. E. notes never discussing her experiences with her children; disparagement as a survivor in Israel; sharing her story on a television show (her sons heard it); and her book about music in Theresienstadt.
    Author/Creator
    E., Ruth , 1922-
    Published
    Tel Aviv, Israel : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991
    Interview Date
    September 4, 1991.
    Locale
    Israel
    Czechoslovakia
    Ostrava (Czech Republic)
    Opava (Czech Republic)
    Ponitz (Germany)
    Brno (Czech Republic)
    Prague (Czech Republic)
    Cite As
    Ruth E. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3195). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
    Notes
    This testimony is in Hebrew.
    Related publication: Ruaḥ ḥayim, c1990.
    Related publication: Die Hoffnung erhielt mich am Leben, c1988.

    Physical Details

    Language
    Hebrew
    Copies
    2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
    Physical Description
    Various videorecordings (8 hr., 14 min.) : col

    Keywords & Subjects

    Subjects (Local Yale)
    Hiding.
    Aid by non-Jews
    False papers.
    Mutual aid.
    Marriage in concentration camps.
    Hospitals in concentration camps.
    Childbirth in concentration camps.
    Postwar experiences.
    Postwar effects.
    Survivor-child relations.
    Subjects
    Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Women. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Sisters. Fathers and daughters. Husband and wife. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Concentration camp inmates--Family relationships. Concentration camps--Songs and music. Forced labor. Children--Death. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Public opinion. Public opinion--Israel. Czechoslovakia. Ostrava (Czech Republic) Opava (Czech Republic) Ponitz (Germany) Brno (Czech Republic) Prague (Czech Republic) Oral histories (document genres) E., Ruth ,--1922- Hirsch, Fredy,--1916-1944. Mengele, Josef,--1911-1979. Maccabi World Union. Theresienstadt (Concentration camp) Birkenau (Concentration camp) Ravensbrück (Concentration camp) Auschwitz (Concentration camp)

    Administrative Notes

    Link to Yale University Library Catalog:
    http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4290985
    Record last modified:
    2018-05-30 11:34:00
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/hvt4290985

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