- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Klara A., who was born in Amsterdam in 1915, and her son Donald W., who was born circa 1939. Mrs. A. describes her family and community life before the war; anti-Jewish legislation; the deportation of her husband to Westerbork in 1942; her decision to entrust Donald, then three years old, and her eight-week-old younger son to the underground for hiding; her work for the Jewish organization in Amsterdam; and her deportation to Westerbork in 1943, where she was reunited with her husband and where both remained for one year. She discusses conditions in Westerbork; its liquidation in September 1944; and her and her husband's transfer to Theresienstadt, where they were soon separated and from where she was deported to Birkenau. She recalls graphically her experience upon arrival and her transfer, after ten days, to a factory in Freiburg, Germany to work as a slave laborer. She relates her evacuation by train to Mauthausen and her liberation by the Americans in May 1945. Ms. A. recalls the reunions with her sister, her son Donald, and her younger son, who remained with his foster family for seven years after the war. She also speaks of learning of the death of her husband; meeting her second husband, who had also lost most of his family; and the emigration to the United States of this new family, which included a new son and Ms. A.'s orphaned niece. Mr. W. remembers being taken by the underground to his foster parents; his adjustment to his new living situation; and his postwar reunion with his mother.
- Author/Creator
- A., Klara, 1915-
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Holocaust Survivors Film Project, 1980
- Interview Date
- May 1, 1980.
- Locale
- Netherlands
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Cite As
- Klara A. and Donald W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-201). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Laub, Dori, interviewer.
Vlock, Laurel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Associated material; Jerrit A. Holocaust testimony [husband of Klara A.] (HVT-208), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
