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Amalia P. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4135) interviewed by Raymond Kaplan,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-4135

Videotape testimony of Amalia P., who was born in Vištuk, Czechoslovkia (presently Slovakia) in 1922, one of six children. She recounts her family's move to Modra; living with her grandfather to attend school in Hustopeče; German occupation; moving to an uncle in unoccupied Kyjov; attending gymnasium until the expulsion of Jews in 1940; returning home; her mother's death in 1940; working in Bratislava; her father arranging to have her smuggled to Hungarian-occupied Nové Zámky, then Budapest; returning home to take her brother and two sisters with her after hearing of deportations from Slovakia; returning to Budapest with them via Galanta; assistance from a Jewish family; finding apartments for herself and her siblings; obtaining false papers; returning home to visit her father and other sister (she was later deported and did not return); arrest when returning; interrogation in Banská Bystrica; injuring herself while escaping from a train; returning to her father's to recover; returning to Budapest via Košice; her arrest and forced labor; escape; one sister's “adoption,” which saved her; taking her other sister to Slovakia in 1944; her father's death in hiding; working in Bratislava as a domestic and in a restaurant; liberation by Soviet troops; assistance from the Red Cross; searching for her sister in Prague; finding her in Brno; attending university; the emigration of two sisters to Palestine; marriage; moving to Vienna; emigration to Israel in 1955; the births of two daughters; emigration to the United States in 1958; and one daughter's death at age eleven. Ms. P. notes continuing contact and providing assistance to non-Jewish rescuers. She shows documents and pictures.

Author/Creator
P., Amalia, 1922-
Published
Mahwah, N.J. : Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2001
Interview Date
June 1, 2001.
Locale
Slovakia
Vištuk (Slovakia)
Modra (Západoslovenský kraj, Slovakia)
Hustopeče (Czech Republic)
Kyjov (Hodonín, Czechoslovakia)
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Nové Zámky (Slovakia)
Budapest (Hungary)
Galanta (Slovakia)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Košice (Slovakia)
Brno (Czech Republic)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Israel
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: Betacam SP master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Amalia P. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4135). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.