Interview with Tauba Biber

Polish Jewish civilian in Mielec, Poland, 9/1939-3/1942; inmate in Kraków Ghetto, Poland, 4/1942-10/1942; inmate in Kraków-Plaszów and Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camps, Poland, 10/1942-10/1944 and Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 10/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as civilian in Mielec, Poland, 9/1939-3/1942: German burning of town's synagogue, 13/9/1939; restrictions against Jewish civilians; question of escaping to Soviet occupied Poland; threats of deportation. Aspects of deportation from Mielec, Poland, 3/1942: accommodation in Lublin; travelling with sister back to Mielec; problems of finding somewhere to stay. Aspects of period as inmate in Kraków Ghetto, Poland, 4/1942-10/1942: managing to get into ghetto; work in shoe factory; removal to Plaszow Concentration Camp on liquidation of ghetto, 10/1942. Recollections of period as inmate in Kraków-Plaszów Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1942-7/1944: arrival in camp; Appell and work; incident illustrating camp commandant Amon Goeth's brutality; working in shoe workshop; degree of awareness of Oscar Schlinder's factory. REEL 2 Continues: hospitalisation with lung problem; sight of children taken from their mothers; shooting of group of inmates for smuggling in food. Aspects of transportation to Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 7/1944: train journey to camp; procedure on arrival. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 7/1944-10/1944: accommodation; barrack cleaning duties; rations; relations with sister; passing time in camp; awareness of gassing taking place. Recollections of period as inmate in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 10/1944-4/1945: removal to camp, 10/1944; reception on arrival; deterioration of conditions; liberation of camp; death of sister after liberation; hospitalisation; meeting future husband in camp; reunion with brother in camp after war. REEL 3 Continues: finding older brother in Hamburg, Germany; attitude towards Soviet inmates; tattooing. Reflections on Holocaust experience: impressions of Amon Goeth; role of Jewish Kapos in Kraków-Plaszów Concentration Camp; family bakery in Mielec, Poland; brother's orthodoxy; conditions in Kraków Ghetto, Poland, 4/1942-10/1942; survival on reduced diet; degree of awareness of Oscar Schindler; opinion of freedom enjoyed in GB; religious beliefs; importance of talking about experiences; attitude towards Germans.