Overview
- Interview Summary
- Susan Cernyak-Spatz describes her early years in Vienna, Austria and Prague, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic); her deportation to Terezin (Theresienstadt) in 1942 and her subsequent transfer to Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1943; life at Auschwitz, including the work she performed in the offices and in the Canada commando; the hierarchy of prisoners; relationships among prisoners and guards, including lesbian relationships; the effects of dehumanization, particularly on the perpetrators; the help she received from her fellow prisoners as well as from guards; the cruelty she experienced; the evacuation and death march from Auschwitz to Ravensbrück in January 1945; her experiences at Ravensbrück; and her postwar experiences.
- Interviewee
- Susan E. Cernyak-Spatz
- Interviewer
- Sauni Wood
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
3 videocassettes (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Antisemitism. Death march survivors. Death marches. Forced labor. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jews--Austria--Vienna. Jews--Persecutions--Europe. Lesbians. Prisoners--Abuse of. Women concentration camp guards. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Czechoslovakia. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Czechoslovakia--History--1938-1945. Oświęcim (Poland) Prague (Czech Republic) Terezín (Ústecký kraj, Czech Republic) Vienna (Austria)
- Personal Name
- Cernyak-Spatz, Susan E., 1922-
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Susan Cernyak-Spatz donated the oral testimony to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in July 1994.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:10:41
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn509009
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- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
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