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Ingeborg W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-335) interviewed by Rita Stonehill,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-335

Videotape testimony of Ingeborg W., who was born in Hannover, Germany in 1923. She recalls increasing antisemitism; expulsion with her parents and younger sister to Zbąszyń in October 1938 because her father was a Polish citizen; assistance from Polish Jews; living with an aunt in Kalisz; forced transfer to Kraków, then Szczerców; smuggling themselves to Warta; imprisonment in Szczerców; ghettoization in Warta; a public hanging of Jewish community leaders; separation from her mother and sister at a selection (she never saw them again); transfer with her father to the Łódź ghetto; forced labor in a munitions factory; her father's privileged kitchen position; his smuggling food to her; deportation to Auschwitz two years later; help from a fellow prisoner (they remain friends to the present); separation from her father; seeing him one last time; transfer ten days later to Bergen-Belsen; her friend smuggling food from her kitchen job; a severe beating when they were caught; liberation by British troops; living in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; assistance from the Red Cross; moving to Hannover; marriage; her son's birth in 1948; emigration to the United States in 1949; and her second son's birth. Ms. W. notes emotional and health problems due to her experiences and not sharing her experiences with her sons until they were older.

Author/Creator
W., Ingeborg, 1923-
Published
Cleveland, Ohio : National Council of Jewish Women, Holocaust Archive Project, 1984
Interview Date
August 24, 1984.
Locale
Poland
Warta
Łódź
Hannover (Germany)
Germany
Zbąszyń (Poland)
Kalisz (Poland)
Kraków (Poland)
Warta (Poland)
Szczerców (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Ingeborg W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-335). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.