Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Jana S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3668) interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Králová,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3668

Videotape testimony of Jana S., who was born in Topol̕čany, Czechoslovakia in 1926. She recounts her family's orthodoxy; her father's deportation to Novaky labor camp in 1941; joining him in 1942; forced labor; release during the Slovak uprising in August 1944; traveling to Banská Bystrica; leaving her family to join the partisans; hiding in villages; working in a partisan infirmary; German soldiers capturing her and a friend; one soldier allowing them to escape (the others were shot); hiding in Slovenská l̕upča; obtaining false papers; hiding in Koš and Krušovce; returning to Koš; hiding with a non-Jew; traveling to Uherské Hradiště, then towards Hungary; arrest and imprisonment by Hungarians; liberation by Soviet troops; working in a Soviet infirmary; walking to Budapest; learning that her father had perished and her mother was at home; returning to Topol̕čany via Nové Zámky and Nitra; reunion with her mother and siblings; a pogrom in Topol̕čany; moving to Bratislava in 1948; her brother's emigration to Israel; and marriage. Ms. S. discusses non-Jews who helped her, both strangers and friends; encounters with Arrow Cross members; profound fear and surviving by animal instinct; and not sharing her experiences until today although her daughter had heard a small part.

Author/Creator
S., Jana, 1926-
Published
Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995
Interview Date
March 23, 1995 and May 4, 1995.
Locale
Slovakia
Czechoslovakia
Topol̕čany (Slovakia)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Slovenská Ľupča (Slovakia)
Koš (Slovakia)
Krušovce (Slovakia)
Uherské Hradiště (Czech Republic)
Budapest (Hungary)
Nové Zámky (Slovakia)
Nitra (Slovakia)
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Language
Slovak
Copies
3 copies: VHS Master; Betacam SP dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Jana S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3668). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.