- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Bella B., who was born in Piotrków, Poland in 1920. Mrs. B. describes her family; the German invasion; isolation and persecution of the Jews; and the formation of the ghetto, which she escaped from with family members by hiding in a bunker. She recalls the birth of her sister's baby in the bunker; returning to the ghetto; separation from her brother whom she never saw again; her brother-in-law's efforts to keep the newly born child hidden; learning about the mass shooting of all the young men in a nearby woods; and deportation to Skarżysko-Kamienna. Mrs. S. recounts conditions in Skarżysko; the many beatings and the loss of dignity; receiving advice from the rabbi of her hometown in Skarżysko; transfer with 3,000 women to Leipzig; kindness shown to her by a German worker; constant hunger; the three week death march; and liberation by Russians. She tells of her return to Poland to seek family; narrowly escaping rape by Polish and Russian men; extreme antisemitism in Poland; learning her sister was alive in Bergen-Belsen; and smuggling herself into Germany. She recalls her reunion with her sister; meeting her husband who was a rabbi and scholar; the birth of two of her children; emigration to the United States; the death of her husband; her remarriage; and her reluctance to discuss her experience with her children.
- Author/Creator
- B., Bella, 1920-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1984
- Interview Date
- November 5, 1984.
- Locale
- Poland
Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski (Poland)
Leipzig (Germany)
Berlin (Germany)
- Cite As
- Bella B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-306). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Waller, Batik, interviewer.
