- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Sophie W., who was born in Liège, Belgium in 1928, the daughter of Polish immigrants. She recounts her father's ethnic, rather than religious Jewish identity; his participation in Jewish leftist organizations; attending primary and high school; cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion; fleeing to France with her family; her father's return to Liège after three months; she and her mother living with relatives in Bergerac for another three months; returning home; anti-Jewish restrictions; her teachers' sympathetic response; her father's arrest as a Belgian while fleeing; his deportation for forced labor in Germany; she and her mother hiding with resistance members in Amay, then in a convent for about eight months; her father's return; living with her parents in Mounteville as non-Jews using false papers; hiding briefly in Melreux; arrest with her mother in March 1943; incarceration in the Liège Citadelle; their escape; hiding with a priest; her aunt obtaining new false documents for them; her parents sending her and a cousin to a convent in Durbuy; living in Soy with her parents from April 1943 to September 1945; liberation by United States troops; returning to Liège; living briefly in Brussels and Charleroi; marriage; and sharing her experiences with her children. Ms. W. discusses the kindness of many who helped them; learning of concentration and death camps from returning survivors; relatives who did not return; testifying against a Belgian collaborator; and her cultural Jewish identity, including sending her sons to Israel, despite her lack of belief.
- Author/Creator
- W., Sophie, 1928-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 2001
- Interview Date
- March 27, 2001.
- Locale
- Belgium
Liège (Belgium)
Bergerac (France)
Amay (Belgium)
Monteuville (Belgium)
Melreux (Belgium)
Soy (Belgium)
Durbuy (Belgium)
- Cite As
- Sophie W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4278). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Toussaint, Nina, interviewer.
De Becker, Jean-Marie, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
