MS 667
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Collection Summary | |
| Creator: |
Jewish Federation of Southern
Arizona |
| Collection Name | Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1989-1990 |
| Physical Description: | 1.5 linear feet |
| Abstract | The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes measure 1.5 linear feet and contain video interviews with Holocaust survivors conducted by the United States Holocaust Museum Oral History Branch in 1989 and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in 1990 on 19 U-matic videocassettes. |
| Collection Number | MS 667 |
| Language: | Materials are in English. |
| Repository |
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections PO Box 210055 Tucson, AZ 85721-0055 Phone: 520-621-6423 Fax: 520-621-9733 URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/ E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu |
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes measure 1.5 linear feet and consist of nine video testimonies on 19 U-matic videocassettes given by Holocaust survivors and conducted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch in 1989 and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in 1990. Organized into a single series and arranged alphabetically by interviewee, the interviews in box 1 were created by the Jewish Federation as one of thirty-six affiliate projects led by Yale University Library’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Abstracts for testimonies in box 1 were created by the Fortunoff Video Archive. The University of Arizona holds the master U-matic videocassettes of these testimonies, the Fortunoff Video Archive has digitized the submasters. As an access site, UA Special Collections provides streaming access to the Fortunoff Video Archive through a secure workstation in the Reading Room. Descriptions and unique identifiers for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes (MS 667) can be found in this collection guide.
Testimonies of Erna S. and Gerda W. in box 2 were conducted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch, have been transcribed and digitized, and are available to stream from the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive.
-To request testimonies for viewing through the Fortunoff Video Archive, you must first create an account with the Aviary platform, receive a confirmation email, sign into and search Aviary, and request access to testimonies. Detailed instructions for access can be found here: Search the Archive
-After registering and requesting access to testimonies, they can be viewed on site at our dedicated work station in the UA Special Collections Reading Room. Be sure to bring your Aviary login information with you.
-There is a two-hour time limit on use of the workstation if multiple patrons are in line to view content.
-The Archive is a copyrighted work, all rights belonging to Yale and its associated licensors. Users may view the Archive and take notes on the viewed content, but may not in any way copy, reproduce, or distribute any of the content without the express and written permission of Yale. Quotation or citation from the Archive for use in published works of any kind, including, but not limited to, scholarly journals, dissertations and theses, is expressly prohibited without prior written permission. Such permission shall not be unreasonably withheld.
Use of original audio visual materials is restricted due to their fragile nature. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
Use of original audio visual materials is restricted due to their fragile nature.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Submaster videocassettes and digital access copies of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes are held by the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library. Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
U-Matic videocassettes and streaming digital access files of Erna S. and Gerda W.'s testimonies are held by the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
The videocassettes in this collection have been digitized for research access. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Holocaust testimony videocassettes (MS 667). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.
Processed by Amanda Howard in 2019.
| box | item | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1, 2 | Hermina A., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 118 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Hermina A., who was born to a Roman Catholic family in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1919. She recalls wonderful relations with Jews; German invasion; marriage in 1941; her son's birth in 1942; her brothers' compulsory forced labor in Germany; her husband obtaining false papers to leave Holland to escape forced labor; observing Jews disappearing; joining an underground unit; acting as a courier; capture; arranging for her son to be with her parents; imprisonment and torture in Amsterdam and Arnhem; not divulging any names she knew; transfer to Vught after several months; slave labor digging ditches, then for Philips; sabotaging radios they manufactured; learning she was to be released; smuggling out letters for other underground members; being sent to the Hague; returning to Amsterdam; reunion with her family (she did not recognize her son); difficulties obtaining food; liberation by Canadian troops; and receiving a medal from the queen for her work. Mrs. A. discusses joining the underground so her son could grow up in freedom; having no regrets except for the pain she caused her family; and testifying at war crime trials. She shows photographs. Interviewed by Paula Winters and Rebecca Fink. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1360. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3, 4 | Alfred B., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 104 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Alfred B., who was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1922 to a Jewish father and Dutch Reformed mother. He recalls religion played no part in their lives; his brother's birth in 1937; German occupation in 1940; anti-Jewish restrictions; receiving a notice to report to a central location; his father bringing him to a friend who was in the underground (his father had some protection from his mixed marriage); traveling with her friend to Rotterdam; obtaining false papers; hiding in twenty-two places during the war including Rotterdam, Leiden, Delft, and Amsterdam; learning his parents had been caught for hiding Jews; his mother throwing a note to her sister from the deportation train to retrieve his younger brother (she did and he survived); his final hiding place with his aunt in Amsterdam; marriage to a non-Jew he had met through the resistance; and their emigration to the United States. Mr. B. discusses constant terror while hiding; producing false documents and listening to British radio to stay sane; learning his parents had perished in Auschwitz; wondering if he would have risked his life to hide Jews even though he believes the Dutch did not do enough; and sharing his story with his sons. Interviewed by Rebecca Fink and Leo Mogill. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1939. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 5, 6 | Selma N., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 113 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Selma N., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1926, an only child. She recalls her family's emphasis on education and music; anti-Jewish restrictions after the Anschluss; her father's belief he would be safe due to his service in the First World War; having to attend a Jewish school; being warned of Kristallnacht by their non-Jewish building superintendent; her parents’ decision to send her on a kindertransport; leaving for Sweden assuming she would see her parents soon; living with a family in Linköping, then in an orphanage in Goteborg warm relations with the other children; receiving mail from her parents from Theresienstadt; attending nursing school; meeting concentration camp survivors when they arrived in Sweden; learning her parents and most other relatives did not survive; emigrating to the United States to marry an American soldier; and the births of two daughters. Mrs. N. discusses a postwar trip to Vienna (she had not wanted to go) and her resolve not to return; not wanting to burden her daughters with her experiences; recently sharing her story with them and their anger that she had not done so earlier; continuing contacts with a few women from the orphanage; and regrets over not maintaining contact with others. Interviewed by Rebecca Fink and Paula Winters. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1940. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 7, 8 | Irving S., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 105 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Irving S., who was born in Thessalonikē, Greece in 1924. He recalls his father's atheism despite his family's orthodoxy (one brother was a cantor); German invasion in 1941; ghettoization in 1943; transport with 600 youths for forced labor in Larisa; public hanging of an escapee; return to Salonika six months later; finding all the Jews had been deported, including his family; deportation to Birkenau three days later; encountering his older brother (all other family had been killed); transfer to Auschwitz after two weeks; transfer to Warsaw three days later with other Greek prisoners; clearing rubble from the former ghetto; his brother's arrival; obtaining extra food due to his brother's privileged position because he spoke German; his brother's public hanging after an escape attempt; a death march, then train transport to Dachau, then Augsburg; working in a nearby village; a German woman feeding them in front of their guards; liberation by United States troops; meeting his future wife, a Polish survivor; marriage six weeks later in Ampfing; living in Feldafing, then Heidenheim displaced persons camps; and emigration to the United States in 1949. He shows a family photograph and discusses speaking to school groups about his experiences. Interviewed by Leo Mogill and Rebecca Fink. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1404. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 9, 10 | Rachel S., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Rachel S., who was born in Vilna, Poland in 1923, one of five children. She recalls cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion in 1941; ghettoization; sneaking back to her former neighborhood and receiving food from non-Jewish neighbors; forced labor; her father losing his will to live; his refusal of an offer from a non-Jewish friend to hide their family; remaining in their apartment with one sister during a round-up (another sister and her parents were shot in a mass killing at Ponary); joining her brother who was hiding in a village; discovery; incarceration of those hiding them; a three-week Gestapo interrogation in Vilna; transfer to a small camp in September 1943, then to Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Dachau; liberation; assistance from the Red Cross; living in Feldafing displaced persons camp; marriage six weeks after liberation; reunion with one brother, the only other family survivor; living in Heidenhiem displaced persons camp for three years; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. notes she lost her faith, although never lost hope in the camps; nightmares about being caught by Germans; not sharing her story with her daughters; and painful feelings concerning the reunification of Germany. Interviewed by Rebecca Fink and Rachel Sattinger. Playback errors on both tapes. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1941. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 11, 12 | Genia S., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 100 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Genia S., who was born in Sosnowiec, Poland in 1927, one of seven children. She recalls moving to Bielsko-Biała; German invasion; a round-up of men including her father; his return three months later; anti-Jewish restrictions including confiscation of their business; her family's move to Sosnowiec to join relatives; serving in her older sister's place for forced labor (her sister was ill); deportation with other girls to a camp; slave labor in a textile factory; starvation, lack of sleep, and arduous labor; her older sister's arrival two years later; assisting each other; sabotaging the machinery; abandonment by the guards in May 1945; arrival of Soviet troops; many women dying from eating; assistance from the Red Cross; recuperating for about three months; returning home; hostility from non-Jewish Poles; traveling to Germany; living in a displaced persons camp; marriage; her daughter's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mrs. S. discusses details of camp life; dreaming of food; and amazement that she survived such conditions for almost five years. Interviewed by Paula Winters and Rebecca Fink. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1403. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 13, 14, 15 | Sonia S., 1990 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 170 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Sonia S., who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1925, the third of five children. She recalls German invasion; incarceration with her family in the Seventh Fort; a mass killing including her father; transfer with her mother and siblings to the Ninth Fort; release; ghettoization with her younger siblings and mother; smuggling food; hiding her siblings; forced labor; their deportation to an Estonian labor camp; deportation to Auschwitz; a prisoner giving her life-saving advice; learning her mother and siblings had been gassed; recognizing one of her older brothers (she had not known he was alive); slave labor in a munitions factory; learning her brother was in the Sonderkommando (he survived their revolt); the death march in January 1945; train transport to Ravensbrück, then Neustadt; a privileged position in the laundry; liberation; traveling to Łódź; antisemitic violence; illegally traveling to Austria; living in Braunau displaced persons camp; learning her brother was in Italy; their reunion; marriage; her brother's suicide; emigration to the United States; and lack of support from relatives. Mrs. S. discusses her brother's suicide resulting from his experiences in the Sonderkommando; her determination to survive; and her pervasive sense of pain and loss. She shows photographs. Interviewed by Leo Mogill and Rebecca Fink. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Unique ID: HVT-1361. | |||||||||||
| box | item | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Erna S., 1989 (1 U-matic videocassette, 35 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Erna S. who was born in Krotoschin, Germany (now Krotoszyn, Poland) near Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1901. She recalls being the only Jewish child in her class for ten years, but experiencing no anti-Semitism. Her father owned a department store and served in WWI on the Russian front. To escape the battlefront, she moved in with her grandparents in Breslau where she later met her first husband. She discusses being unaffected after Hitler first came to power, until her daughter began to encounter anti-Semitism in school and she was moved to a Jewish gymnasium (secondary school). Erna describes leaving Germany for Cuba on the MS St Louis, on what is now known as the Voyage of the Damned, and life aboard the ship. Upon being sent back to Europe, she, her husband and her daughter were relocated to Belgium, where her husband was then sent to a labor camp and perished. Her immediate family had stayed behind in Germany, were deported and died in camps. She describes her and her daughter’s lives as refugees, escaping through France and onward to Switzerland, living in a displaced persons camp in Belgium after the war, and meeting her second husband. Interviewed by Linda G. Kuzmack. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive, United States Memorial Museum. Unique ID: RG-50.030.0222. | |||||||||||
| 2 | 2, 3 | Gerda W., 1989 (2 U-matic videocassettes, 70 minutes) | |||||||||
| Videotape testimony of Gerda W., daughter of Erna S., born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1923. Gerda describes her life as an only child, attending a Catholic girls’ gymnasium (secondary school), moving to a Jewish gymnasium around 1935 after experiencing anti-Semitism from her peers. She describes her involvement in the Zionist youth movement, and not being permitted to travel to Palestine due to her poor eyesight. Gerda recalls attending a home economics school near Munich in 1938, being awakened at 6am by the SS in late 1939, taking the train back to Breslau, sharing a coach with SS officers who were discussing Kristallnacht. She describes meeting her future husband, the journey to Cuba on the MS St Louis, leaving her grandparents behind; her paternal grandmother deciding to commit suicide rather than face deportation. She discusses the circumstances of the liner being turned away and the journey back to Europe and eventually Brussels. In detail, Gerda describes her and her mother’s escape with another woman and her two children to Switzerland through France; life as refugees in Switzerland, reuniting with her would-be husband, and their return to Belgium after the war. She shows photographs and her yellow Star of David patch. Interviewed by Linda G. Kuzmack. | |||||||||||
| Existence and Location of Copies | |||||||||||
| Digital access copy from the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive, United States Memorial Museum. Unique ID: RG-50.030.0251. | |||||||||||