Elena D. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3899) interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Antalová

Videotape testimony of Elena D., who was born in Prešov, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1918, the middle of three children. She recalls belonging to Hashomer Hatzair and Maccabi; cordial relations with non-Jews; graduation from high school; anti-Jewish restrictions, including confiscation of the family home and business; her brother's emigration to the United States; living with her grandmother in Bardejov to avoid deportation; denouncement by her best friend's husband who was in the Hlinka guard; feigning illness; hospitalization; release; marriage; her parents' and sister's deportations to Auschwitz (she never saw them again); brief incarceration with her husband in Žilina; their release through her husband's connections; returning to Prešov; illegally entering Hungary; working as a translator in a Budapest hotel as a non-Jew (she had false papers); sending funds to her husband through her boss (her husband was hiding elsewhere); liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Prešov, hoping to find relatives; her husband's return in a debilitated state, leading to his premature death twelve years later; the births of two children; and five visits to Auschwitz. Ms. D. discusses long-term grief resulting from her parents and sister not returning; disappointment that neither of her children married a Jew; and observing Jewish holidays and attending synagogue for her parents and relatives who were killed.