- Summary
- 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.
- Author/Creator
- D., Elena, 1918-
- Published
- Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1996
- Interview Date
- February 20, 1996.
- Locale
- Czechoslovakia
Prešov (Slovakia)
Bardejov (Slovakia)
Budapest (Hungary)
Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Cite As
- Elena D. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3899). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Salner, Peter, interviewer.
Antalová, Ingrid, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Slovak.
