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Klara H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2116) interviewed by Alberta Strage,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2116

Videotape testimony of Klara H., who was born in Szombathely, Hungary in 1921. She recalls summer holidays visiting maternal grandparents in Austria; visits to Budapest; her bat mitzvah; pervasive antisemitism; leaving school to learn dressmaking; working and living with relatives in Budapest; her aunt's arrival from Austria after the Anschluss, then her emigration to India; her father's death in 1939; moving to Győr with her mother and sister; German invasion in March 1944; ghettoziation; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her mother (she never saw her again); a cousin who had arrived earlier assiting them; transfer six weeks later with her sister and friends to Langenbielau; slave labor in a weaving factory; transfer to build roads in Czechoslovakia; return to Langenbielau; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Budapest three weeks later with her sister and friend, then Győr; her sister's marriage; receiving documents to join her aunt in Bombay; illegally traveling to Salzburg; her sister's emigration to Palestine; living in Paris, then Bombay; marriage in 1947; emigration to England; and raising a family. Ms. H. discusses surviving due to luck, her sister, and friends; gradually sharing her experiences with her children; and traveling with them to Austria and Hungary to connect them to her past. She shows photographs.

Author/Creator
H., Klara, 1921-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1992
Interview Date
October 29, 1992.
Locale
Hungary
Győr
Szombathely (Hungary)
Budapest (Hungary)
Győr (Hungary)
Salzburg (Austria)
Paris (France)
Bombay (India)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Klara H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2116). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.