Etta S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4239) interviewed by Joanne Weiner Rudof and Sara Moss Herz

Videotape testimony of Etta S. who was born in Miskolc, Hungary in 1921. She recalls her father's work for the Jewish community; his scholarliness and extensive library; attending a private Jewish school; apprenticing at a fashion salon in Miskolc, then Budapest, and at the same time, attending a private city college and Jewish student organized classes (MIEFHOE); German invasion in March 1944; a death march to Innsbruck, then train transfer to Ravensbrück; the humiliation of having her head shaved; a veteran prisoner advising her; slave labor in a Siemens factory; losing her faith in God; having to stand naked for a seemingly endless roll call (appell) on Christmas Eve; transfer to Burgau, Turkheim, then Allach; illness; a shrapnel wound; liberation by United States troops; surgery by U.S. doctors; returning home; learning her parents and four siblings had perished; traveling to Budapest; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; working as an UNRRA translator in Feldafing and Fürth; meeting her future husband; an emotional Passover seder; emigration to the United States; and raising two sons who attended Harvard and Yale. Ms. S. discusses difficulty sharing her story; continuing nightmares; and her granddaughter's death in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, which further eroded her belief in God.