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Frances W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1242) interviewed by Freda Remmers and Robert Roth,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1242

Videotape testimony of Frances W., who was born in Koňuš, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Slovakia) in 1918, one of eight children. She recalls living in Uz︠h︡horod; training as a seamstress; Hungarian occupation; anti-Jewish restrictions; all her brothers, except the youngest, being drafted into Hungarian slave labor battalions; German invasion; ghettoization; deportation with her parents, sister, sister-in-law, and their children to Auschwitz; separation from her family (she never saw them again); volunteering as a dressmaker; a death march, then train transport to Bergen-Belsen in January 1945; a very high death rate; contracting typhus; liberation by British troops; friends caring for her; returning home via Prague and Budapest; reunion with her fiancé, youngest brother, sister, and brother-in-law; moving with her husband to the Sudetenland, then Brno; and emigration to the United States in 1949 upon receiving affidavits from her husband's sister. Ms. W. discusses nightmares and health problems resulting from her experiences; the births of two children; and not sharing her experiences with them or others because it is too painful for her.

Author/Creator
W., Frances, 1918-
Published
Union, N.J. : Kean College Oral Testimonies Project, 1987
Interview Date
December 3, 1987.
Locale
Ukraine
Uz︠h︡horod
Austria
Koňuš (Slovakia)
Uz︠h︡horod (Ukraine)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Budapest (Hungary)
Sudetenland (Czech Republic)
Brno (Czech Republic)
Language
English
Copies
4 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; Betacam SP restoration submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Frances W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1242). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.