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Oral history interview with Kati Preston

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2022.2.1 | RG Number: RG-90.215.0001

Overview

Interview Summary: Kati Preston, born in 1939 in Nagyvarad, Hungary (present day Oradea, Romania), discusses her Catholic mother and Jewish father; her father’s deportation to a ghetto and subsequent murder in Auschwitz concentration camp; being hidden by a peasant woman named Erzsebet who had delivered milk to her family; hiding in a barn attic and nearly being discovered by Hungarian soldiers; learning that one of her mother’s employees in a dressmaking business informed Hungarian authorities about her whereabouts; her survival during the war and eventual immigration to Israel; becoming a successful fashion designer in Paris where she interacted with Christian Dior and Harry Winston; learning eight languages; giving birth to four sons; immigrating to the United States; her associations with Israeli government officials and fellow Holocaust survivors, and her perspective on contemporary American politics.
Interviewee: Kati Preston
Interviewer: Christina Zlotnick
Date: interview: 2020 October 20
interview: 2022 October 27
interview: 2020 November 03
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Christina Zlotnick

Physical Details

Language: English
Extent: 3 digital files : WAV.

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: Hiding places--Romania. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jews--Romania--Oradea. Women--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Romania.
Geographic Name: Oradea (Romania) Transylvania (Romania) United States--Emigration and immigration.
Personal Name: Preston, Kati, 1939-

Administrative Notes

Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: Christina Zlotnick donated her interview with Kati Preston to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in January 2022. Christina Zlotnick produced the interview as part of her podcast series Diary of a Nation.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 10:09:46
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn733627

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