The Australian Women's Register

2 hours 10 minutes ’Feliska’ was born in about 1925 of Polish descent in the Russian city of Yvanpole. She was sixteen when the Germans invaded and describes the horror of witnessing the execution of local Jewish people and then her terror at being transported to a German work camp where she was put to work in an Actil factory for three years. Feliska describes digging her way out of the rubble when the factory was bombed. Feliska’s life was in confusion at the end of the war. After becoming pregnant she reluctantly married. A few years later the family, including two children, emigrated to Australia and Feliska describes the voyage and their arrival in January 1950. The family first lived in a tent and in later years Feliska and her husband were often at odds about their marriage, finances and accommodation. Feliska had three more children and did factory work to contribute to the household income. She returned to Russia on a visit in 1975.