- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Nelly L., a non-Jew, who was born in Herstal, Belgium in 1921, one of two sisters. She recounts a happy childhood in Beringen; attending a French school; moving to Westende in 1940; German invasion; fleeing to the south of France; returning several months later; her father offering to hide a Jewish employee, who refused and was caught; contact with the underground through her father; escorting escaped Soviets and Belgian resistants to the Ardennes; transporting explosives; her father's arrest in 1944 and hers shortly thereafter; a severe beating; transfer to Hasselt; interrogations and torture; transfer to Saint Gilles with her father; learning she was designated “Nacht und Nebel”; transfer a week later to Gross Strehlitz; separation from her father; receiving a note from him that he was being transferred (she never saw him again); slave labor cutting wood; transfer to Ravensbrück; being housed with other "Nacht und Nebel" prisoners; helping a dying friend; transfer to Mauthausen; a prisoner doctor saving her from deadly slave labor; working in the hospital; observing the arrival of Jewish women; a liberation transport to Saint Gall; transfer to Annecy; repatriation to Brussels with assistance from the Red Cross; and reunion with her mother and sister. Ms. L. discusses the importance of her father's advice and inspiration, and assistance from others to her survival; not sharing her experiences with her mother or sister; nightmares; joining a survivor group; and visiting Mauthausen.
- Author/Creator
- L., Nelly, 1921-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1997
- Interview Date
- March 24 and April 28, 1997.
- Locale
- Belgium
Herstal (Belgium)
Beringen (Belgium)
Westende (Belgium)
Ardennes
Saint Gall (Switzerland)
Annecy (France)
Brussels (Belgium)
- Cite As
- Nelly L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4072). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Rosenfeldt, Michel, interviewer.
Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
