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Sesha S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-212) interviewed by Norman Blumenthal and Robert Prince,

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-212

Overview

Summary: Videotape testimony of Sesha S., who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1922. She recalls her prewar family life; antisemitism in Poland; and the forced repatriation of a German relative to Łódź. She describes the family's move to the Łódź ghetto in 1939; ghetto conditions; the deaths of her parents; and her transport in 1944 to Auschwitz with her younger sister, with whom she survived the war. She tells of the camp's conditions; the prisoners' obsession with food; and prisoner dehumanization. Mrs. S. relates her and her sister's transport in a cattle car to the labor camp of Christianstadt; conditions and experiences there, where they were aided by a sympathetic German; and the death march to Bergen-Belsen. She recounts her liberation there; her illness; and her postwar recuperation in Germany and Sweden. She notes the lasting effects of her experiences, including the premature death of her survivor husband.
Author/Creator: S., Sesha, 1922-
Published: New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1982
Interview Date: October 31, 1982.
Locale: Poland
Łódź
Łódź (Poland)
Cite As: Sesha S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-212). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Other Authors/Editors: Blumenthal, Norman, interviewer.
Prince, Robert, interviewer.
Notes: Unpublished finding aid available in repository; 1/2 in. VHS is linked to finding aid by time coding.

Physical Details

Language: English
Copies: 3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Physical Description: 1 videorecording (1 hr., 23 min.) : col

Keywords & Subjects

Subjects (Local Yale): Aid by non-Jews.
Subjects: Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Women. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Forced repatriation. Jewish ghettos. Brothers and sisters. Forced labor. Concentration camps--Sociological aspects. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Jews--Poland--Łódź. Poland. Łódź (Poland) Oral histories (document genres) Sisters. Death marches. S., Sesha,--1922- Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Special Collection: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Link to Yale University Library Catalog:: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/946944
Record last modified:: 2018-06-04 13:28:00
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt946944

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