Levy, Ruzena 'Rachel' (Oral history)

Czechoslovakian Jewish schoolchild in Czechoslovakia, 1939- 1944; interned in Auschwitz, Birenboul and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps in Germany, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Bhutz, Czechoslovakia, 1930-1944: family including details of Bhutz and languages spoken in town and at home; education; further details of family; restrictions placed on Jews from 1940; deportation of father; treatment from ruling Hungarians; method of avoiding own deportation; visits to grandparents in Ternova; story of final journey home from Ternova including humiliation of grandfather; relationship with non-Jewish population and rounding-up of Jewish population in Bhutz, 4/1944; short period in ghetto; journey to Auschwitz; knowledge of situation. Aspects of period as internee at Auschwitz, Birenboul and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, 1944-1945: separation of family; processing and issue of uniform; knowledge of camp; last sighting of brother; reunion with family members at camp; daily routine including rations; sleeping arrangements; selection process including knowledge of gas chambers and treatment from guards; story of being selected for gas chambers and reason for avoiding them; transfer to and details of Birenboul; issue of clothes and rations; details of work parties and local town. REEL 2 Continues: details of march to Bergen-Belsen; arrival and reunion with aunt; searches for food and scenes in camp; health problems of self and aunt; final activities and death of aunt; arrival of British troops; rations received and further health problems; transfer to hospital; medical treatment received. Aspects of period as civilian in Czechoslovakia, 1945: description of searches for friends and relatives in Prague; details of accommodation in Prague and Bratislava; arrival of brother; story of journey to Prague; reunion with uncles and cousins; family home; problems with gaining education; decision to move to England; journey to Belfast with the Boys. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1945: period on farm in Belfast; medical including health problems among boys; dispersal of group; opinion of reason for group becoming known as The Boys. REEL 3 Continues: details of recovery period in Belfast including learning of English and details of carers; visits to brother; reactions to situation; contact with family in Israel; accommodation in Herne Hill; hospitalisation and education of brother; mental effects of experiences including problems talking about experiences and treatment received; discussion of shame and hunger of camp experience; effects of experiences on later life; effects of puberty and menstruation in Belfast; civilian work; meeting of husband; life with Mendoza family including attendance at Primrose Club; stigma of having been a concentration camp internee. REEL 4 Continues: initial hostility from future in-laws; talking about experiences including self-recording made; husband's contact with 45 Aid Society; fame of and relationship with The Boys; dispersal of Jewish Holocaust refugees; treatment received in Belfast and London; settling into new life; search for family members; life of brother; reactions to survival.