Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Frieda G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-627) interviewed by Bonnie Dwork and Kathy Strochlic,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-627

Videotape testimony of Frieda G., who was born in De̜bica, Poland in 1916. Mrs. G. recounts her childhood; marriage in 1938 in Rzeszów; wartime transfer eastward of her father and husband; arrival of the German army; and occupation conditions. She tells of smuggling herself to her husband in the Russian area; returning to the German area; the clandestine return of her husband in 1942; ghetto life; her husband's forced labor for Organisation Todt; their transport with two of her sisters to Huta Komorowska, a camp in the Polish forest; and her separation from her husband when the camp was liquidated. She recalls her transfer with her sister to Płaszów; the horrible conditions there; witnessing a massacre; and her transport with her sister to Auschwitz eighteen months later. She describes arrival at Auschwitz; aid she received which enabled her to survive; an aborted revolt and subsequent hangings; and her transfer to the infirmary. She recounts the death march; escape and hiding in Bielsko-Biała with the aid of a local farmer; liberation by the Russians; returning to Kraków; reunion with her brother; anti-Semitic incidents; a brief visit to her hometown; reunion with her husband in Malmö, Sweden; and their emigration to New York. Mrs. G. reflects upon her reluctance to discuss her experiences and her belief that the legacy of the Holocaust has been the devaluation of human life and her hope that her pessimism may be wrong.

Author/Creator
G., Frieda, 1916-
Published
New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1985
Interview Date
November 11, 1985.
Locale
Poland
Rzeszów
Dębica (Województwo Podkarpackie, Poland)
Rzeszów (Poland)
Kraków (Poland)
Malmö (Sweden)
Bielsko-Biała (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Frieda G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-627). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.