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Hannah T. Holocaust testimony (HVT-337) interviewed by Peggy Nathan,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-337

Videotape testimony of Hannah T., who was born in Halberstadt, Germany in approximately 1922. She recalls her father's death; moving to Hannover in 1933; living with her maternal grandfather; his orthodoxy; attending pubic school; expulsion as a Jew in 1936; living in an orphanage in Hamburg for a year; learning domestic skills and English; working at a resort outside Hamburg; her brother's emigration to the United States; learning of Kristallnacht through the media; returning home; working as a maid, then in a knitting company; assistance from some non-Jews; the outbreak of war; receiving emigration papers shortly thereafter, but too late to leave; forced relocation in August 1941; deportation to the Rīga ghetto in December; slave labor moving lumber and snow removal; smuggling food; a public hanging of a "smuggler"; transfer to Rīga slave labor camp in 1943; assignment with her girlfriend to the AEG cable factory; sexual harassment, but not rape, by an SS; transfer by boat to Stutthof in August 1944, then to Toruń six weeks later (she never saw her mother again); a death march in January; her inability to walk due to illness; her girlfriend pulling her on a sled; liberation by Soviet troops; hospitalization; living in Hannover, then Frankfurt; assistance from the Joint; assistance from HIAS to emigrate to the United States; reunion with her brother; marriage; and the births of two daughters. Ms. T. discusses nightmares; her children's encouragement to record her testimony; and surviving due to her youth, good health, luck, and her girlfriend.

Author/Creator
T., Hannah, 1922?-
Published
Cleveland, Ohio : National Council of Jewish Women, Holocaust Archive Project, 1984
Interview Date
July 30, 1984.
Locale
Germany
Latvia
Rīga
Halberstadt (Germany)
Hannover (Germany)
Hamburg (Germany)
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Hannah T. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-337), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.