Jewish survivors of the Holocaust
Birkin, Edith, 1927- (1 of 17)
- Add a note
Log in to add a note at the bottom of this page.
- All notes
- My notes
- Hide notes
- Add to playlist
Log in to add this item to one of your personal lists.
- Add to favourites
Log in to add and display this item in your personal list of favourites on the right hand side of this page.
The British Library Board acknowledges the intellectual property rights of those named as contributors to this recording and the rights of those not identified.
Legal and ethical usage »
Type
sound
Duration
00:30:33
Shelf mark
C0410/030
Recording date
1989-02-18 and 1989-07-01
Is part of (Collection)
The Living Memory of the Jewish Community
Recording locations
Interviewee's home
Interviewees
Birkin, Edith, 1927- (speaker, female)
Interviewers
Thompson, Katherine (speaker, female)
Recordist
Thompson, Katherine
Abstract
Part 1: Place of birth, Prague, family background, father Max Hoffman, mother Irma Hoffman. Maternal grandparents Altschul. Family relationships, religious background. Her maternal grandparents owned a shoe factory. Earliest memories, home life and relationships to parents and sister. Introduction to jewish school, teaching methods. Did one year of secondary school 1938/9. Effect of arrival of Germans on schooling, had to work at home. Activities outisde school. Her father lost his job. Sister going to England.Preparation for going to Lodz, 1941. Philosophy of survival. Behaviour of the Czechs - story of a stored fur coat.
Description
Interviewee's note: Describes early life; born in Prague. Family background, grandparents, family name was Hoffmann. Earliest memories, Jewish school, teaching methods. Arrival of Germans in Czechoslovakia; effect on schooling; father lost his job. Train to Lodz Ghetto. Life in the ghetto. Death of parents and the effect on her; she worked in a tailoring factory; memory of hearing gunfire of approaching Russians. Summer 1944, evacuation from the ghetto; taken by cattle truck to Auschwitz. Description of conditions and routines there. January 1945, the Germans moved prisoners out, beginning of the death march. Description of death march; birth of a baby, joy of hearing bombing outside Dresden. Arrival in Flossenburg camp in March 1945, 10 days there, then by coal truck to Belsen. Details of arrival in Belsen and conditions there; food, gypsies, typhus. Arrival and reactions of the British Army. The Germans forced to clear away the dead. The camp was burned, prisoners re-housed and cleaned. She was filmed for newsreel a few days after liberation. Edith had contracted typhus and was sent to the hospital. Entertainment in the hospital (Scottish dancing and a visit by Yehudi Menuhin). Journey back to Prague; Russian soldiers in Prague. Loneliness; loss of her family and belongings. Decided to go to UK in 1946; impressions. Went to Belfast by boat to visit her sister; attended high school in Londonderry. There was a Jewish community there. She did a teachers' training course in London. After that she worked in Hendon and Edgware. She married in 1962 to a non-Jewish man; they were unable to have children so they adopted two boys, and a girl. She dedicated herself to her family thereafter. She started painting based on the concentration camp experiences; it had a therapeutic effect on her. She exhibited and sold her work. Talks about her paintings, and about being lucky to have survived the holocaust.
Related transcripts
Related links
Metadata record:
Birkin, Edith, 1927- (1 of 17)
Please log in to update your playlists.
Can you tell us more about the context of the recording? Or can you share information on its content - timings of key sections or important details? Please add your notes. Uninformative entries may not be retained.
Please log in to leave notes.