Oral History

Bella Jakubowicz Tovey describes a British soldier's visit while she was hospitalized in Bergen-Belsen after liberation

Bella was the oldest of four children born to a Jewish family in Sosnowiec. Her father owned a knitting factory. After the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, they took over the factory. The family's furniture was given to a German woman. Bella was forced to work in a factory in the Sosnowiec ghetto in 1941. At the end of 1942 the family was deported to the Bedzin ghetto. Bella was deported to the Graeben subcamp of Gross-Rosen in 1943 and to Bergen-Belsen in 1944. She was liberated in April 1945.

Transcript

Critical Thinking Questions

Why are survivor testimonies important in studying the Holocaust?

How can personal testimonies and oral histories provide insights into the challenges Allied forces faced when encountering and documenting the evidence of Nazi atrocities?

How do oral histories differ from other primary sources such as artifacts, documents, and photographs? What can we learn from different types of primary sources?


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