Description
Object description
Polish schoolchild in Zakopane and Warsaw, Poland, 1939-1943; inmate of Pawiak Prison, Warsaw, Poland, 4/1943-5/1943; inmate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 5/1943-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Zakopane, Poland, 1925-1939: attitude towards childhood in Zakopane; religious beliefs; atmosphere in Zakopane; memories of mother. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Zakopane, Poland, 1939-1942: importance of Zakopane for German Army; disappearance of Jewish population; effect of German forced labour policy; decision of family to send her to Warsaw. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Warsaw, Poland, 1942-1943: move to aunt's house, 1942; entrance to Warsaw Ghetto in dentist office; education; character of the city under German occupation; consequences for aiding Jewish civilians. Aspects of period as inmate in Pawiak Prison, Warsaw, Poland, 4/1943-5/1943: arrest and duties; cleaning prison yard during Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 4/1943.
REEL 2 Continues: selection for transport away from prison. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 5/1943-1/1945: train journey from Warsaw to Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp; initial impressions of camp; procedure on arrival; accommodation in barracks; nationalities of other inmates and arrival of Greek Jews; quarantine period; work duties; question of survival; coping with exterminations being carried out in camp.
REEL 3 Continues: problems of wearing wooden clogs and obtaining pair of shoes; rations; selection to work away from main camp; descriptions of mass selections. Aspects of march away from Auschwitz II-Birkenhau Concentration Camp, Poland into Germany via Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, 1945: orders to evacuate Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, 1/1945; deaths on journey; arrival in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp; reaction of resumption of march; escape from march by hiding in forest; liberation by Soviet Army. Reflections on Holocaust experience: problems adapting to normal life.
REEL 4 Continues: attitudes towards marriage and birth of son; impact on religious beliefs; attitude towards forgiveness; importance of survivors telling their stories; opinion of human nature; repetition of certain extracts for filming purposes.