Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Miriam F. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2387) interviewed by David Herman and Elliot Perry,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2387

Videotape testimony of Miriam F., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1933, the youngest of three daughters. She recounts her family moving to Amsterdam in 1934; her father compiling a library/archive of Nazi documents; she and her sisters attending a Montessori school; her father bringing his library to London in 1939; German invasion in May 1940; her father arranging Paraguayan passports for them; anti-Jewish restrictions; deportation to Westerbork in June 1943; weekly transports to Auschwitz; her mother managing to keep them off the list for Auschwitz; transfer to Bergen-Belsen in January 1944 as exchange prisoners; her mother growing weak because she gave her children her food; placement on a train a year later; stopping briefly at Ravensbrück; arrival in Switzerland; her mother's death that night; the Swiss providing food and clothing; her father arranging for them to join him in the United States; debarkation on a Red Cross ship from Marseille; living with her father until his immigration status necessitated his return to England; living with several foster families; attending school; joining her father in London in 1947; her father's remarriage; her and sisters' marriages; becoming a scientist; the births of her children; and her father's death in 1964. Ms. F. notes gaps in her memory, and sharing her experiences with her children.

Author/Creator
F., Miriam, 1933-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991
Interview Date
February 22, 1991.
Locale
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Switzerland
Marseille (France)
United States
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Miriam F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2387). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.