Overview
- Interview Summary
- Helene Gettner, born on February 4, 1932, discusses her life growing up Antwerp, Belgium in the 1930s; pre-war life in Antwerp; her parent's clothing store; the German invasion of Belgium; the labeling of Jewish businesses; moving to Oreye near Liege; her father's escape from a deportation train and reunion with the family; hiding in a Catholic orphanage; her discovery of the murder of her family outside the immediate family circle; her family moving to Brussels, Belgium; immigrating to the United States; and her marriage and the raising of her three daughters.
- Interviewee
- Helene Gettner
- Interviewer
- Larry Papier
- Date
-
interview:
1992 August 01
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Larry Papier
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
1 videocassette (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Videotaped interviews must not be used in commercial stores for profit.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Hidden children (Holocaust)--Belgium. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Belgium. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jews--Belgium--Antwerp. Jews--Persecutions--Belgium. Orphanages--Belgium. Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Antwerp (Belgium) Belgium--Ethnic relations. Belgium--History--German occupation, 1940-1945. Brussels (Belgium) Oreye (Belgium) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Personal Name
- Gettner, Helene, 1932-
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The interview with Helene Gettner was produced by Larry Papier as part of a project to interview Holocaust survivors in the Washington, D.C. area. This volunteer project was conducted with support and technical advice from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the interview in 1992.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:00:05
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn511624
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Oral history interview with Hanni Krispin
Oral History
Hanni Krispin, born on March 23, 1924 in Memel (Klaipeda), Lithuania, describes her family moving to Kovno, Poland (Kaunas, Lithuania); her family being very conservative and observant; the Russian occupation of Lithuania; remaining active in Zionist youth groups; the Nazi invasion and the Russians fleeing; Lithuanian forces arresting her family; her father being taken away and never seeing him again; being imprisoned with her mother for a few weeks; being forced into the Kovno ghetto; being deported in July 1944 with her mother along with other women to German work camps; and feeling fortunate to have survived.