We were loaded...
onto sealed boxcars,
locked from the outside.
There was only room to stand. It was packed.
No air, but very cold.
Had it been summer, I don't know how many would've died.
Some died anyway.
But I think that it would've been much worse.
It was raining, slushy and snowing.
It was very cold.
All the clothes I had on helped a little.
But... I don't remember how long we traveled.
Who else was with you?
All sorts of Jews that were picked up.
I didn't know anyone.
Local people?
From Berlin, but I didn't know them.
People were screaming and so on and so forth.
There was no toilet...
It was horrific.
It was my first encounter
with the German "Beast."
Under these conditions.
With its cruelty, brutality,
and the beastly plan
they had for transporting Jews to Auschwitz.
We arrived in Auschwitz, again, lots of screaming.
Lots of beating, lots of pushing, lots of...
With sticks, rubber knotted whips.
The procedure began immediately.
and they began to sort us.
I don't remember how long after we arrived.
Oh... another thing...
As soon as we got off the train we had to remove our watches,
if somebody had rings...
I took my mother's necklace from home.
We had to put them into suitcases.
They placed them in the middle,
it was called Wertsachen (valuables). We had to hand them over immediately.
And the suitcases...
Oh... I had a backpack.
One for my mother and one for me.
I had to leave them on the platform I said to myself:
Good thing I put on her clothes.
I thought I would meet her
and give them to her, etc...
I don't remember how much clothing I took,
at any rate... I took quite a bit
thinking I'd give it to her and it would be useful to her.
As young as I was, I immediately noticed
that old people, women and children,
although not all together, went to the left side.
On the right side they asked people their profession,
their age,
and they had to look well.
I immediately thought...
Mother must be in this group
because in my eyes Mother was God. I considered her...
First of all, she was a beautiful woman.
She was built well...
I thought that if she worked in a factory
she'll work again one way or another.
I felt I had to get into the group which was being selected for work.
I was 13.
I wanted to look like them,
I stood on tiptoes, when my turn came
he asked me: "How old are you?" -"17."
"Profession?" -"Electrician."
If you ask me today
what made me think of that and why I said it,
I have no answer.
We reached the camp... -Were there women there too?
We saw the women from a distance,
how they undressed them, we saw all that.
They gave them towels and soap and they went wherever they went.
They put us on trucks, beating us,
and took us to Auschwitz 3.
It was called "Buna."