Lydia S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4303) interviewed by Rik Hemmerijckx,
Videotape testimony of Lydia S., a Catholic, who was raised in Mechelen, Belgium. She recounts attending middle school when the Germans invaded; she and classmates forming a group to distribute clandestine anti-German publications; arrest with many from the group on June 17, 1942; imprisonment in Antwerp; transfer to Aachen, Essen, then Zweibrücken a few months later; transfer to another camp, then Esterwegen; placement in solitary confinement as was her friend; a trial and two-month sentence; transfer to Gross Strehlitz, then Esterwegen; slave labor weeding and harvesting produce; eating some of the food they harvested; transfer to Ravensbrück; singing to raise morale; the oppressive feeling there; solidarity with those in her block and other Belgians; transfer a few weeks later to Mauthausen; slave labor in Amstettin clearing bombing rubble; liberation by United States troops; assistance from the Red Cross; transfer to St. Gall; and repatriation. Ms. S. discusses the difficulty of telling parents whose children were deported with her that they had not survived; continuing friendship with the woman who survived with her; occasional nightmares resulting from her experiences; and sharing her story with her daughter on a visit to Austria.
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 2002
- Interview Date
- March 27, 2002.
- Locale
- Belgium
Mechelen (Belgium)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Saint Gall (Switzerland) - Language
-
Dutch
- Copies
- 2 copies: Betacam SP dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Cite As
- Lydia S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4303). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
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View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/6709470
Record last modified: 2018-06-04 13:28:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt6709470