Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

• Contents
• Map
• Pictures

Zyta Eliahu - February 3, 2008

Um, have you told your story to other people?

Yes, when I was visiting in the States my friend's granddaughter-in-law--she was teaching history and one of the things she was teaching was also about the Holocaust. So, she asked me to come to her class--they were high school students--to tell my story and so I did. And um, I've also told it to a bunch of groups here in Israel.

And how many children do you have?

I have one daughter.

One daugh...and you've told her, right?

Yes, she knows. There was--maybe--have you seen the film Into the Arms of Strangers?

No.

It is a very good film if you really want to get a sort of uh, whole picture of the Kinder--not just Winton's but the ones that came from Austria and Germany--Into the Arms of Strangers--it's Deborah--what's her name? Deborah--anyway, she is a producer and she produced this documentary about the Kindertransport and she came to it--her mother was one of the Kinder--and her mother moved to the States after the war. And uh, and Deborah, her daughter, wan...always asked her, "Well, tell me, how was it? What happened and how was it?" Her mother never wanted to speak about it. After her mother died she and her father had found a lot of letters that her mother had corresponded with her parents.

Ah, I've, I've read about this, yeah.

And she made this documentary--she took the best people to make this documentary. It's a--I think it got the Oscar for documentary film and...

I think you're right.

Have you seen it?

I haven't seen it but I've read about it.

You should see it.

Okay.

I mean it's sort of--I don't think it's such a problem to get a video or DVD...

No.

...because this really cuts right through the stories--gives you every side. See, some children were very unhappy with the families they came to and like one person in this film said she moved from family to family--said she got to know ??? family, she got to know ??? family, you know, she, she said they didn't like her and she didn't like them. And her mother also plays in the film. They were trying to--they also interviewed a few parents who sent their children away. This is uh, really a very good film. It gives you the whole picture of the Kindertransport.