Jewish Museum in Prague, Terezín Collection, inv. no 343. Original in Czech.
Testimony of Edita Ornsteinová, which became a part of the “documentation campaign” in Prague. Ornsteinová describes the history of Theresienstadt from its beginning to the liberation of the ghetto by the Red Army. The core of her testimony revolves…
Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (coll. 301), Mejer Lencow Testimony (301/805). Original in Polish.
Testimony of Meier Lenc, who lived in the Sokal Ghetto until its liquidation and then escaped to the “Aryan side”. He was captured by German police and later ran away from the grave he had been forced to dig for himself. He spent several months in…
Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (coll. 301), Leon Perelsztejn Testimony (301/106). Original in Polish.
Testimony of Leon Perelsztejn, who after his arrest in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski was sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, where he was assigned to work at the tool house. He describes the crematoria and methods of burning corpses as well as his…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Kristallnacht Reports (coll. 1375), B. 307. Original in German.
A letter from an unidentified person and their mother after they emigrated from Czechoslovakia to New York City in December 1938 following the events of the November Pogrom. The author describes the destruction of synagogues and Jewish properties…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 633. Original in French. Translated for the Wiener Library by Sue Boswell.
Testimony of an anonymous Jewish refugee from Belgium. He was arrested on the street in Brussels in 1942 and interned in the Malines internment camp, before being taken by train to Russia, near Stalingrad. He was forced to work in a camp probably run…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 23. Original in English.
Testimony of “Miss X”, whose mother was “Aryan” and whose father was Jewish. Her parents divorced for personal reasons and her mother married an “Aryan”. She describes her school, not being allowed to go to university, having to absolve a…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 158. Original in German.
Testimony of Renate Lasker-Allais, who was deported to Auschwitz in December 1943 after one and a half years in prison. She was arrested for helping French POWs escape. She describes in detail life and death in Auschwitz. Lasker-Allais had knowledge…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 458. Original in German.
Testimony of Ursula Finke, who describes the increasing discrimination after 1933 and the blackmailing of her father. She finished school early and learned dressmaking. Finke was assigned to forced labor in a coat factory and moved to a “Jewish…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 540. Original in German
Testimony of Julia (Maria) Abraham-Stern, a trained seamstress. Her husband and son were deported, while she and her daughter were sent to the Lwów Ghetto with her parents. Her mother committed suicide to allow her to go into hiding with her daughter…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 707. Original in German.
Testimony of Anita Wallfisch, who describes forced labor in a factory in which there were also French forced laborers and POWs. She and her sister organized fake papers for POWs to escape. Both were arrested. Wallfisch was sent to Breslau prison…