Chana S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2867) [videorecording] / interviewed by Lawrence L. Langer, January 27, 1995.

Brookline, Mass. : Brookline Holocaust Memorial Committee, 1995.

1 videorecording (2 hr.) : col.

English

Associated material: Seldin, Chana. Interview 19127. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

Videotape testimony of Chana S., who was born in Kalisz, Poland in 1922. She recalls her older sister; a large extended family; increased antisemitism beginning in 1932; her sister's husband's military draft; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; fleeing to Warsaw with her parents, sister, and her children; ghettoization; her sister's family escaping; her father's death; observing Janus Korczak leading his orphanage to deportation; hiding during round-ups; separation from her mother (she never saw her again); caring for a child; surrendering during the uprising when they were burned out; a soldier killing the child she had cared for; deportation to Majdanek; the births of two babies; meaningless slave labor; public hangings; singing to raise morale; wanting to commit suicide; transfer to Skarżysko-Kamienna, then Częstochowa; slave labor in a HASAG munitions factory; receiving extra food from her father's friend; hiding during evacuation; liberation; traveling to Łódź; marriage; antisemitic violence; traveling to Italy; her children's births; hearing from her sister who survived with her husband in the Soviet Union (their children perished); locating her aunt through the Red Cross; and emigrating to join her in the United States. Mrs. S. notes she did not discuss her experiences with her children and the futility of trying to convey what she went through. She shows photographs.

June 01, 2002

Chana S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2867). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Chana S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2867). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)