Audio clip from an oral history with Gitta Zarum: Transcriber for the Adolf Eichmann trial, London, 27 June 2018

Description

This is an audio clip from an interview with Gitta Zarum where she talks about working as a transcriber for the Adolf Eichmann trial.

In her interview, Gitta reveals that her maternal family originate from Russia. Here, she tells the story of a common misconception that her grandfather had thought he had landed in New York, hence how her family came to be in South Wales. Moreover, she discusses the causes for their emigration to this country, including antisemitism and starvation which had killed two of three children before moving to Wales. Gitta notes that she has pleasant memories of Tredegar and recalls a memory of going to Cardiff to use the mikvah, where she was treated to going to the public baths by her mother. Similarly, Gitta notes that maintaining a kosher lifestyle in Tredegar probably meant travelling to Cardiff for kosher goods. As a child during the Second World War, Gitta notes that they had a German Jewish refugee come to stay with them. Significantly, Gitta was a transcriber at the Adolf Eichmann trial in Israel and in the interview, she explores how she got the job, what happened, and her thoughts and feelings on the matter. Regarding Welsh identity, Gitta does identify as Welsh and she believes that there is a similarity between Welsh and Jewish identities in that they are both small communities trying to maintain their identity in the face of larger communities. Gitta notes that her children all maintain Jewish practices; however, they do so to varying extents.

Depository: The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.