Hanna H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-285) interviewed by Dori Laub and Bonnie Dwork

Videotape testimony of Hanna H., who was born in Warsaw in 1918. In this extraordinarily vivid and detailed account, Mrs. H. describes her childhood and education in Warsaw; extreme antisemitism; her marriage in 1939; her flight, with her husband, to Russian-occupied Rovnoe; and their return a short time later. She recalls the birth of her son in 1941; the formation of the Warsaw ghetto; the loss of her husband and, later, of her baby; her severe illness; hiding from a selection in a toilet; her discovery and narrow escape from death; and her reunion with her mother in the ghetto. She recounts smuggling herself out of the ghetto; the deportation and death of her mother; securing false papers to live as a non-Jew in Warsaw in exchange for working for the underground; numerous instances of close calls, betrayal, and flight; and liberation. Mrs. H. also speaks of her immediate postwar work as a translator; meeting her second husband, who had also lost his spouse and child; her life as a high official in Łódź; her wish for revenge; the lasting effects of her wartime experiences; her relationship with her children; her autobiographical writing; and her desire to form a discussion/support group of survivors.