- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Helga G., a Lutheran, who was born deaf in Hamburg, Germany in 1923, the oldest of five children. She recalls attending a school for the deaf; Hitler's assumption of power; her parents' and other relatives' anti-Nazi beliefs; being forced by a teacher to join a Nazi group (N.S.D.A.P.); observing Jews wearing the yellow star; the disappearance of Jews; a deaf teacher informing the class he was to be involuntarily sterilized; his suicide when his arrest was imminent as an anti-Nazi; her involuntary sterilization; meeting her future husband in Leipzig (he was deaf and also had been sterilized); apprenticeship as a weaver; destruction of their home in Allied bombings; her parents' move to Bavaria; joining them; visiting an aunt in Munich; hearing rumors about atrocities; arrival of United States troops; marriage; living in East Germany; escaping to West Germany two years later; living with her parents in Hamburg; emigration to the United States, despite restrictions on deaf immigration, with assistance from an American friend; her husband's death; and her remarriage. Ms. G. discusses sadness that she could not have children.
- Author/Creator
- G., Helga, 1923-
- Published
- Rochester, N.Y. : National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2001
- Interview Date
- October 25, 2001.
- Locale
- Germany
Germany (West)
Germany (East)
Hamburg (Germany)
Bavaria (Germany)
Leipzig (Germany)
Munich (Germany)
- Cite As
- Helga G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4324). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Carmel, Simon J., interviewer.
- Notes
-
This interview was conducted in American sign language with voice-over and closed-caption in English.
