Guide to Anna Rabkin oral history interview OHP.8635

Finding aid prepared by Debbie Kahn
Tauber Holocaust Library
JFCS Holocaust Center
2245 Post Street
San Francisco, CA, 94115
415-449-3717
tauberholocaustlibrary@jfcs.org


Title: Anna Rabkin oral history interview
Identifier/Call Number: OHP.8635
Contributing Institution: Tauber Holocaust Library
Language of Material: English
Container: OHT Box #32
Container: Tauber Holocaust Library Archives
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet comprising two audiocassettes and one transcript of 74 pages
Date: 1994 May 9
Abstract: This collection comprises two audiocassettes with accompanying transcript of an oral history interview with Anna Rabkin conducted by the Holocaust Oral History Project on May 9, 1994.
Creator: Rabkin, Anna
Creator: Fielden, Evelyn
Creator: Ronayne, Susan

Preferred Citation note

Anna Rabkin oral history testimony - OHP.8635, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

Conditions Governing Use note

There are restrictions for use of this collection. Consult archivist for more information.

Conditions Governing Access note

There are no restrictions to access for this collection.

Scope and Contents note

This collection comprises two audiocassettes with accompanying transcript of an oral history interview with Anna Rabkin. The interview was conducted by Evelyn Fielden on behalf of the Holocaust Oral History Project on May 9, 1994. Anna Rabkin is a Holocaust survivor
The interview describes Ms. Rabkin's early childhood in Krakow, Poland; her assimilated family life; and her family's religious practices. She describes the family's decision to flee Krakow for Soviet-occupied Lvov; the conditions after the Germans gained control, and the family's deportation to the Lvov ghetto. She briefly describes the conditions in the ghetto, the lack of food, the illness, and the deportations she observed. She discusses her family's decision to arrange for a truck driver to smuggle Ms. Rabkin and her brother out of the ghetto prior to liquidation in 1942. She describes her experiences living in hiding as well as a near-discovery by the Gestapo. She describes her experiences at the end of the war, her return to Krakow and reunion with some relatives, and the anti-Semitism she experienced there. Ms. Rabkin discusses emigrating from Poland to England in 1946 on an orphan transport and her experiences in the Bunce Court School in Kent. She describes the food, the language barrier, the education she received, and a finishing school she attended later. She describes the work she performed as a secretary, emigration to the United States in 1955, her life in New York, her marriage in 1960, and her subsequent life in San Francisco.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Antisemitism -- Poland
England -- Emigration and immigration
Holocaust survivors -- United States
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives
Jewish children in the Holocaust
Jewish families -- Poland
Jewish ghettos -- Poland
Jewish refugees -- England
Krakow (Poland)
Lviv (Ukraine)
Poland -- History -- Occupation, 1939-1945
United States -- Emigration and immigration