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Kathe K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-292) interviewed by Edith Bayne and Emily Howard,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-292

Videotape testimony of Kathe K., who was born in Breslau, Germany in 1915. She describes her father's death when she was two-and-a-half; realizing she was different, having been diagnosed with cerebral palsy; and her sheltered childhood. Mrs. K. recalls sudden change in 1933 when she was denied entrance to college because she was a Jew; learning to type with one hand; and going to Prague to study English. She related hiding with Christian friends on Crystal Night; her brother's departure for England on a children's transport; her family's attempt to emigrate to Shanghai, resulting in her journey alone to Shanghai via Italy. Mrs. K. details oppressive conditions in Shanghai; the formation of a ghetto in Hongkew; her eventual employment by and marriage to the publisher of the Jewish newspaper; and liberation by American soldiers in 1945. She recalls their emigration to the United States; reunion with her family in New York; legal difficulties with her marriage, resulting in her remarriage to her husband; her desire to remain independent despite her handicap; medical difficulties; and her career. Mrs. K. notes that as a child, due to her handicap, she always wanted adventure and the irony that due to the war her life was an adventure, but perhaps not the kind she had envisioned.

Author/Creator
K., Kathe, 1915-
Published
New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1984
Interview Date
June 25, 1984.
Locale
China
Shanghai
Germany
Wrocław (Poland)
Genoa (Italy)
Shanghai (China)
Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Kathe K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-292). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/967612
Record last modified: 2018-03-06 14:11:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt967612