Description
Object description
Polish Jewish schoolchild in Łódź, Poland, 9/1939-5/1940; inmate of Łódź, Ghetto, Poland, 5/1940-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Łódź, Poland, 1923-1939: family background; fate of family during Holocaust; degree of anti-Semitism experienced prior to 1939. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Łódź, Poland, 9/1939-5/1940: arrival of German forces, 9/1939; obtaining food; restrictions against Jews. Recollections of period as inmate in Łódź Ghetto, Poland, 5/1940-1/1945: accommodation; food rations; fate of father, 1940; working in fields; work making straw boots for German Army troops; work repairing uniforms retrieved from dead German Army soldiers; burial of father, 1940; rations; work in rail yard, 1942.
REEL 2 Continues: start of selections and deportations, 1942; attempts to avoid selections; preparing cattle trucks for deportations; messages hidden in returning cattle trucks; story of baby's survival in ghetto; question of medical effects of ghetto captivity; deportation of family, 1944; selection of seven hundred inmates to stay and clean ghetto after last deportation, 8/1944; memories of Judenrat leader Chaim Rumkowski.
REEL 3 Continues: marriage to Jakob Hirschkorn in ghetto; reasons why marriage was not consummated for eight months; married life in ghetto; post-war move to husband's home village of Wawern; death of best friend; treatment of inmates by Schutzstaffel (SS); conditions in ghetto after 8/1944; bombing; mass grave dug for last inmates; orders for Appell and number of inmates able to attend; imprisonment in cellar; arrival of Soviet Army, 19/1/1945; behaviour of Soviet Army troops in liberated Łódź.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of journey from Łódź to Wawern, Germany, 1945-1946: journey to Berlin; accommodation in former Hitler Youth hostel; memories of Berlin; journey to Wawern. Aspects of period as civilian in Wawern and Konz, Germany, 1946-1956: birth of first child; adapting to post-war life in Germany; setting up business; decision to move to GB. Aspects of period as civilian in London, GB, 1956-1999: difficulties of adapting to life in new country; lack of aid from Jewish community; sense of feeling an outsider after 44 years in GB; second marriage to Mr Kahn, 1974. Reflections on Holocaust experience: importance of shared Holocaust experience.
REEL 5 Continues: question of discussing Holocaust experiences in private life; attitude of children towards her experiences; importance of speaking of experiences; impact of experiences on health and religious beliefs; desire to visit father's grave in Poland.