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Cecile S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1256) interviewed by Bernard Weinstein and Selma Dubnick,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1256

Videotape testimony of Cecile S., who was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1937. She recounts her father was a jeweler; German invasion in 1940; seeing a Jew beaten in the street; her mother shielding her from the brutality; anti-Jewish restrictions; her father's arrest, beating and release; Germans looting their home; her father's deportation; an uncle's maid hiding them in Boom with relatives who were in the underground; warm relations with the family; being treated for an illness in Mechelen; her mother obtaining gold her father had hidden; illegally traveling with the Belgian underground to Switzerland via France in 1943; living in a refugee camp; her mother's hospitalization; the Swiss Red Cross sending her to live with an elderly couple; her mother's visit six months later; transfer to another family; fondness for them; returning with her mother to Belgium after the war; reunion with her father (he survived several camps); and emigration to Australia in 1949, then the United States in 1954. Ms. S. discusses continuing contact with their rescuers; attending survivor gatherings; and her parents' reluctance to discuss their experiences and sharing hers with her children.

Author/Creator
S., Cecile, 1937-
Published
Union, N.J. : Kean College Oral Testimonies Project, 1988
Interview Date
October 25, 1988.
Locale
Belgium
Antwerp (Belgium)
France
Boom (Belgium)
Mechelen (Belgium)
Switzerland
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Cecile S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1256). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.