Description
Object description
Hungarian Jewish child in Budapest, Hungary, 1939-1944; inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 6/1944-11/1944 and Lenzing Subcamp, Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Austria, 11/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Budapest, Hungary, 1932-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as child in Budapest, Hungary, 1939-1944: arrival of German forces, 3/1944; experiencing increasing anti-Semitism; lack of awareness of situation for Jews in Europe; relations between Jews and non-Jews prior to 1939; conditions in Budapest; fate of family; wearing Star of David; impact of German occupation on civilian life; move into ghetto. Aspects of journey from Budapest, Hungary to Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 6/1944: rounding up of Jewish inmates and march to disused factory; description of cattle truck.
REEL 2 Continues: conditions inside cattle truck. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 6/1944-11/1944: selection process on arrival; reaction to smell of burning; induction procedure; accommodation in children's barracks; separation from mother Magda Hochhauser; roll calls (Appells); description of latrines; reunion with mother; character of barrack accommodation; rations; organisation of barracks.
REEL 3 Continues: clothing worn; question of menstruation; reasons for regular showers; lack of awareness of gas chambers; baby hidden by inmate; attitude of German guards towards inmates; story of hiding from camp guards in dustbin. Recollections of period as inmate in Lenzing Subcamp, Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Austria, 11/1944-5/1945: clothing worn; work duties in factory.
REEL 4 Continues: disappearance of female inmates sent to shovel snow, 1/1945; suspected death of mother Magda Hochauser; attitude of German guards towards inmates; lack of knowledge of progress of war; relations between inmates; desertion of camp by guards, 5/1945; arrival of liberating American troops, 5/5/1945. Aspects of liberation of camp, 5/1945: being cared for in children's hospital; physical condition; attitude towards food; reasons for not making friends in camp. Reflections on Holocaust experience: attitude towards Germans.
REEL 5 Continues: life after camp; difficulty of talking about experience; question of compensation; fate of family members; impact of experiences on Jewish identity; post-war visit to Hungary; support received from Holocaust centre.
REEL 6 Continues: comparison of her situation with that of hidden children; difficulty in accepting mother's death; difficulties in becoming a parent due to experience; question of Germans paying compensation.