- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Ilse R., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1918. She recounts her brother's death in 1920; her father's death in 1930; attending high school; strained relations with some non-Jewish friends beginning in 1933; a book burning; reluctance to leave her mother and brother to emigrate; marriage in October 1938; losing hope on Kristallnacht; forced labor; her brother's emigration to England in 1939; her mother's deportation to Rīga in January 1942 (she never saw her again); assistance from non-Jewish friends; obtaining false papers; living and working in several places; danger of discovery during Allied air raids; living with a non-Jewish friend (they had him recognized by Yad Vashem); liberation by Soviet troops; learning of ghettos and camps; realizing their relatives would not return; finding most non-Jews claimed to be "victims of fascism"; reunion with her brother; and deciding to remain in Berlin, believing it their home and wanting to build a new democracy. Ms. R. discusses her frequent lectures about her experiences; documenting them in a book; and continuing nightmares. She shows photographs and documents.
- Author/Creator
- R., Ilse, 1918-
- Published
- Postdam, Germany : Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Universität Potsdam, 1996
- Interview Date
- February 20, 1996.
- Locale
- Germany
Berlin (Germany)
- Cite As
- Ilse R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3422). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Miltenberger, Sonja, interviewer.
Nader, Andrés José, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in German.
Related publication: Berliners who helped us to survive the Hitler dictatorship / Ilse Rewald ; translated by Hanna Silver. -- Berlin : Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, c1990.
