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Rita Tate - 8 Jun. 2010
- Name
- Rita Tate
- Material Format
- moving images
- Interview Date
- 8 Jun. 2010
- Source
- Oral Histories
- Name
- Rita Tate
- Number
- OH 368
- Subject
- World War, 1939-1945
- Poland
- Polish underground
- People's Army
- Concentration camps
- Antisemitism
- Jewish ghettos
- Interview Date
- 8 Jun. 2010
- Quantity
- 1 referece DVD (WAV file)
- 1 archival DVD (WAV file)
- Interviewer
- Shayla Howell
- Total Running Time
- 45:40 seconds
- Notes
- This interview is part of the Memory Project event held at Lipa Green on 13 May 2010 in partnership with the Historica Dominion Institute.
- http://www.thememoryproject.com/search?query=rita+tate
- Biography
- Rita was born in Vienna, Austria on 10 January 1932. Rita served in the Polish underground with the People's Army as a courier in the Armia Ludowa. Rita and her mother became involved in the Polish resistance and following the capture of her mother by the German Gestapo, Rita was placed in a Catholic orphanage located near the Warsaw Ghetto. Rita maintained a non-Jewish identity throughout the war. Rita’s mother who was murdered as a Polish political prisoner in Aushwitz, received a posthumous medal for being a war hero.
- Material Format
- moving images
- Geographic Access
- Poland
- Original Format
- DVD
- Transcript
- 2:05: Rita was born in Vienna, Austria on 10 January 1932. Her father was Austrian, and her mother was Polish, 3:10: Rita served with Army Ludova, the People’s Army of Poland, underground resistance. Rita explains there were 2 factions: the Land Army (which was antisemitic) and the much smaller Army Ludova (a left-wing faction supported by Communists in Russia and not antisemitic). 4:37: Rita explains how her mother and she became involved in the resistance movement. Rita explains that they had excellent counterfeit documents, her mother had a job, and they had a place to live. 6:55: Rita describes how she and her mother escaped from Lvov, where they had been living in squalor with her mother’s extended family. 8:32: Rita recounts an incident involving hiding in the home of a Polish woman. She and her mother miraculously escaped capture by German soldiers and trained police dogs. 13:50: Rita and her mother escape to Tarnow, Poland, where they have a friend. Rita explains how the friend, a young man, was able to acquire Polish documents for them, rent an apartment for them, and find a job for her mother at the German Club. 15:44: Rita recounts an incident involving police coming to their building. She explains how her mother had prepared her for this event and how she was familiar with Catholic prayer and practice. 19:50: Rita explains how her mother introduced the idea of getting involved in the underground resistance. She and her mother went to Warsaw to join the Army Ludova. 22:21: Rita describes her job as a courier with the resistance at the age of ten years from October 1942 to March 1943. Rita would deliver messages that were written on small pieces of paper that were braided into her hair. 24:09: Rita explains how her mother was taken by the Germans in March 1943 and how she evaded capture. She was taken into the home of a woman who was involved in the other branch of the Polish resistance. Rita’s mother had been arrested and sent to a German Gestapo prison in Warsaw, Pawiak. 31:46: Rita was placed in an antisemitic Catholic orphanage, located next to the ghetto. 32:41: Rita ran away from the orphanage. 33:41: Rita’s mother was murdered in Auschwitz as a Polish political prisoner. Her mother did not give any information. 35:52: Rita recalls how the resistance fighters celebrated the victory of the Red Army defending Stalingrad. 39:39: Rita maintained a non-Jewish identity throughout the war. After the war, she found a maternal aunt. Together, they moved to Silesia. When they attempted to secure official documents, they were advised by the secret police to never disclose that they were Jewish. 43:00: Rita explains that after the war, there were several pogroms carried out by Poles against surviving Jews (e.g., Kielce). 44:50: Rita’s mother received a posthumous medal for being a war hero.
- Source
- Oral Histories