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The person in question has given us the following information: There were six of us brothers and sisters at home, now only two of us are left. I went to the ghetto together with my husband, and I can say that unfortunately the Hungarian gendarmes were much worse than the Germans. They took away all our money, we were only allowed to bring a blanket and some food with us. Our own gendarmes came into our houses, my husband and some other people were driven into the temple where they were beaten with rifle butts; how much I suffered through this time only God may tell. We were in the ghetto for four weeks, then we were taken to be entrained; mostly Hungarians and a few Germans did this disgraceful work. The streets were closed down and the people were staring at us like it was some spectacle. They crammed 78 people in a freight car, old people and children all mixed together, and made us leave towards our dark destiny. We were given no water on the journey. In Kassa the Germans took over. We arrived in Auschwitz after almost three days of horrible travelling. As we arrived, we felt completely dazzled by the quick turn of events. We immediately had to get off, while men and then old people were separated from us. We brothers and sisters tried to hold onto each other, but we were separated all the same. After this, we, who were young and strong, were taken to a bath, undressed, completely shaved, and then we had to wait for our destiny completely naked in the presence of German officers. How we felt cannot be described in words. Later we got grey prisoner’s clothes and non-matching pairs of male socks. We were not allowed to wear scarves on our heads, if we managed to get something for ourselves, it was taken away within a week. For two days after we arrived we had nothing to eat or drink. We were taken into a camp, where there were 600 of us in a block, ten of us lay in one bed, and after a week we were transferred to another camp. Then we thought we would be taken to the crematorium, but we were wrong, because they took us to Block 3. A few days later, I found out that my elder sister was in Block 6, so I fled there, and I found also two of my younger sisters there. In the meantime there were continuous selections, we lived in horror, which followed us from the beginning until the end, but here we were lucky because once all five of us – my sister-in-law was also there – were selected for a transport, and then taken to Camp D for a week, because we had no train. Once Mrs. Drechaler [Dreschler] came, with her huge bloodhound, undressed everybody, took away even our shoes, and we had to stand for hours completely naked, none of us were thinking of life any more, the gas chamber seemed unavoidable. But after a long time we got some clothes, although we remained here barefoot for more than a week. We lived under horrible conditions, roll calls in the courtyard at 8 am, there was no water, washing ourselves was out of the question; if we wanted to drink, we could only drink from puddles. I cannot even describe how much we suffered. One day after the roll call we were taken to the station and entrained. We got enough food for the journey, fifty of us travelled in a freight car, 2,800 of us started out, but 500 of us were detached during the journey. This was how we came to Lübberstadt. Here we were received very nicely, we were the first people in the camp. Our provisions were decent, we had cups, spoons, plates, cutlery; there was a proper bathroom where we could wash, so we were almost happy after Auschwitz. We had a day of rest, and then we were taken to an ammunition factory to work. Food was rather good in the beginning, we were not hungry for 3-4 weeks, but after that it was very bad, there was no grease or flour in the food at all. Later, we used all the ways to got hold of a little extra food; it was enviable if someone could obtain a few raw potatoes. In the meantime we had to do quite hard work. Later, my job was to drive the truck, which my colleagues had to push, because they were saving petrol through our work. We loaded a heavy truck with eight heavy bombs, and we had to push it 8 kilometres long through hills and valleys from one shelter to another. Apart from the hard work, treatment was not so bad in the factory, but we were treated all the worse in the camp. We got severe punishment for the smallest offences, in winter we had to work without coats, and only when our liberation was approaching did treatment improve. When the frontline was very close, we had to depart on foot. We kept walking for 14 days and then continued by train. Our train was attacked and 70 people died, and we arrived in Pl?n in horrible conditions, where we were liberated. This was where our Lagerführer told us, There were six of us brothers and sisters at home, now only two of us are left. I went to the ghetto together with my husband, and I can say that unfortunately the Hungarian gendarmes were much worse than the Germans. They took away all our money, we were only allowed to bring a blanket and some food with us. Our own gendarmes came into our houses, my husband and some other people were driven into the temple where they were beaten with rifle butts; how much I suffered through this time only God may tell. We were in the ghetto for four weeks, then we were taken to be entrained; mostly Hungarians and a few Germans did this disgraceful work. The streets were closed down and the people were staring at us like it was some spectacle. They crammed 78 people in a freight car, old people and children all mixed together, and made us leave towards our dark destiny. We were given no water on the journey. In Kassa the Germans took over. We arrived in Auschwitz after almost three days of horrible travelling. As we arrived, we felt completely dazzled by the quick turn of events. We immediately had to get off, while men and then old people were separated from us. We brothers and sisters tried to hold onto each other, but we were separated all the same. After this, we, who were young and strong, were taken to a bath, undressed, completely shaved, and then we had to wait for our destiny completely naked in the presence of German officers. How we felt cannot be described in words. Later we got grey prisoner’s clothes and non-matching pairs of male socks. We were not allowed to wear scarves on our heads, if we managed to get something for ourselves, it was taken away within a week. For two days after we arrived we had nothing to eat or drink. We were taken into a camp, where there were 600 of us in a block, ten of us lay in one bed, and after a week we were transferred to another camp. Then we thought we would be taken to the crematorium, but we were wrong, because they took us to Block 3. A few days later, I found out that my elder sister was in Block 6, so I fled there, and I found also two of my younger sisters there. In the meantime there were continuous selections, we lived in horror, which followed us from the beginning until the end, but here we were lucky because once all five of us – my sister-in-law was also there – were selected for a transport, and then taken to Camp D for a week, because we had no train. Once Mrs. Drechaler [Dreschler] came, with her huge bloodhound, undressed everybody, took away even our shoes, and we had to stand for hours completely naked, none of us were thinking of life any more, the gas chamber seemed unavoidable. But after a long time we got some clothes, although we remained here barefoot for more than a week. We lived under horrible conditions, roll calls in the courtyard at 8 am, there was no water, washing ourselves was out of the question; if we wanted to drink, we could only drink from puddles. I cannot even describe how much we suffered. One day after the roll call we were taken to the station and entrained. We got enough food for the journey, fifty of us travelled in a freight car, 2,800 of us started out, but 500 of us were detached during the journey. This was how we came to Lübberstadt. Here we were received very nicely, we were the first people in the camp. Our provisions were decent, we had cups, spoons, plates, cutlery; there was a proper bathroom where we could wash, so we were almost happy after Auschwitz. We had a day of rest, and then we were taken to an ammunition factory to work. Food was rather good in the beginning, we were not hungry for 3-4 weeks, but after that it was very bad, there was no grease or flour in the food at all. Later, we used all the ways to got hold of a little extra food; it was enviable if someone could obtain a few raw potatoes. In the meantime we had to do quite hard work. Later, my job was to drive the truck, which my colleagues had to push, because they were saving petrol through our work. We loaded a heavy truck with eight heavy bombs, and we had to push it 8 kilometres long through hills and valleys from one shelter to another. Apart from the hard work, treatment was not so bad in the factory, but we were treated all the worse in the camp. We got severe punishment for the smallest offences, in winter we had to work without coats, and only when our liberation was approaching did treatment improve. When the frontline was very close, we had to depart on foot. We kept walking for 14 days and then continued by train. Our train was attacked and 70 people died, and we arrived in Pl?n in horrible conditions, where we were liberated. This was where our Lagerführer told us, when we did not want to walk with him any more, that we were going towards freedom but he was going into captivity. This time he really wanted to be good to us and make us forget the sufferings of many months. I do not have any plans, I hope to meet my husband and then we can decide about our fate together.

Labour Service