Overview
- Interview Summary
- Eva Cavcic, born in 1923, describes living with her family in Sombor, Yugoslavia (Serbia) at the time of the war's outbreak; switching her affiliation from the Zionist group Tehelet Lavan to the communist youth movement in 1942 because the communists offered a less life-threatening path to resistance against the Nazi regime than the Zionist movement; being a courier for the communists, running messages between two local communist leaders, one of whom committed suicide when the Hungarians came to detain him; being tortured by the Hungarians in November 1942; being sentenced to many years in prison camps, including Bergen-Belsen in January 1943; conditions in Bergen-Belsen, where most of her co-inmates were other Jewish, communist women; the women being well organized and supportive and helping each other survive mass starvation; her parents being deported to Auschwitz; moving after liberation to Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Serbia) and graduating with a degree in chemistry; being supported almost entirely by the efforts of the local Jewish community and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee while earning her education; earning her Ph.D and working at the Institute for Nuclear Studies in Belgrade; and being the first president of the Association of War Veterans and a member of several other veterans associations.
- Interviewee
- Eva Cavcic
- Interviewer
- Hilde Gattmann
- Date
-
interview:
1997 May 04
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation
Physical Details
- Language
- Serbian
- Extent
-
4 videocasettes (Betacam SP) : 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
- Chemists. Communism--Yugoslavia. Communists--Serbia--Sombor. Guerrilla couriers. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Yugoslavia--Personal narratives. Hungarians--Yugoslavia. Jewish women in the Holocaust. Jewish youth--Europe--Societies and clubs. Jews--Serbia--Sombor. Starvation. Suicide victims. Women communists. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Yugoslavia. World War, 1939-1945--Jewish resistance--Yugoslavia. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Yugoslavia. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Yugoslavia. Zionists. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Belgrade (Serbia) Lower Saxony (Germany) Serbia--History--1918-1945. Sombor (Serbia) Yugoslavia--History--Axis occupation, 1941-1945.
- Personal Name
- Cavcic, Eva, 1923-
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- This interview is a production of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Oral History branch.
- Funding Note
- The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. - Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:35:40
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn513565
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