- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Chaja G., who was born in Poland in 1925 and emigrated to Brussels with her family when she was about five. She recalls their orthodoxy; German invasion; her father's employees protecting them; her sister and brother being hidden; working in a school where Jewish children were attending as non-Jews; arrest with the school; deportation to Malines; taking one child to a hospital and secretly notifying his mother who escaped with him; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; remaining with her friends; hospitalization for typhus; assignment to a Polish barrack; harsh treatment by the Polish prisoners including their forcing her to work by herself; a guard ordering them to assist her; Mala Zimetbaum arranging her transfer back to her Belgian friends; assignment to Canada Kommando; intentionally ruining the clothing they sorted; receiving Red Cross packages from her parents through a non-Jewish friend; Mala's escape; her suicide before she could be executed; the Sonderkommando uprising; a death march to Gleiwitz in January 1945; train transport to Ravensbrück, then Malchow; escaping a death march in April; assistance from British POWs; hospitalization by Americans; encountering her friends; repatriation in May; and reunion with her family. Ms. G. discusses remembering little of her pre-camp life; strong bonds with her camp friends; their importance to her survival; taking death for granted; and losing her faith in God and trust in people.
- Author/Creator
- G., Chaja, 1925-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1995
- Interview Date
- May 8, 1995.
- Locale
- Germany
Poland
Brussels (Belgium)
- Cite As
- Chaja G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4022). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
Rosenfeldt, Michel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.