Esther G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3545)

Videotape testimony of Esther G., who was born in Kishinev, Romania (presently Chișinău, Moldova) in 1924, one of four children. She recounts her family's orthodoxy; attending public school; Soviet occupation; her twin's death in 1939; her father's death in 1940; German invasion; fleeing with her mother and brothers; walking for three months; separation from her older brother; living a week with a Ukrainian villager; Romanian soldiers confiscating her mother's valuables; arrival at Berezivka; finding her older brother; transfer to Domanevka, then Bogdanovka; hearing shots from a mass killing; her brother's murder; separation from her mother; bribing a guard to escape execution; assignment sorting belongings of victims; finding her mother; caring for her; guards shooting her; supporting a sick friend (she witnessed her brutal murder); collecting food from villagers; wounds on her feet preventing her from working; others bringing her food; assignment reburying corpses from a mass grave; liberation by Soviet troops; testifying to the Soviets about Bogdanovka; and emigration to Israel in 1973. Ms. G. discusses constant fear in Bogdanovka; testifying at a war crimes trial in Odesa; visits to the still-open mass grave in Bogdanovka; lobbying officials to have it closed; her deep sense of loneliness and pervasive fears due to her memories; and her son's inability to understand her.