Elsa K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1313) [videorecording] / interviewed by Ceceil Ehrich and Fred Ehrich, May 7, 1989.

Wilmington, Del. : Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Center, 1989.

1 videorecording (57 min.) : col.

English

Videotape testimony of Elsa K., who was born in Stettin, Germany (presently Szczecin, Poland) in 1906, one of four children. She recalls moving to Insterburg (presently Cherni︠a︡khovsk); fleeing to Stettin during the first World War; her father's and other relatives' military service; returning to Insterburg a year later; active participation in a Zionist group; working in her parents' shoe store; marriage in 1929; the births of three children; her father's death in 1934; her siblings emigrating to the United States and Brazil; antisemitic harassment and boycotts; forced sale of the shoe store in 1937; impoverishment resulting from anti-Jewish measures; some non-Jews helping them, others turning on them; her sister aiding her mother's and husband's emigration to the United States in May 1938; moving to Schönebeck; being attacked on Kristallnacht; fleeing to Berlin; emigration with her children to join her husband in March 1939; and futile efforts to assist relatives still in Germany. Mrs. K. notes her early disbelief that Germans would harm them and her children's traumatic memories. She shows photographs.

June 01, 2002

Elsa K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1313). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Elsa K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1313). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)