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The person in question has given us the following information: From the ghetto of Ungvár we could still go out working, if we wanted to. We could do some shopping and we received packs from Christians. They sent us in the ghetto bread and milk. We spent five weeks here. My husband had been in Ukraine since 1942, and I already received a communication regarding his disappearance in 1943, when life became a misery for me. Five weeks later, we heard our names in the speakers and it was our turn. Gendarmes searched us and seized all our valuables already here. It is impossible to describe how awful our departure was, it is also awful to remember it. I left my home with my two-year-old baby. We travelled 75 of us in a freight car while they kept on issuing threats against us. My dear baby was begging for water but I could not even give her water and I vainly besieged these godless beasts in human skin, who made up our escort. Germans took charge of us in Kassa. We travelled for three days before we arrived in Auschwitz. When we got off train Polish men told me to leave my child with an elderly person. I thought my child was going to stay under better conditions so I gave her to an elderly woman. I have not seen her since. I stayed together with two of my brothers and sisters but later unfortunately also my younger sister was singled out. There were nine of us brothers and sisters at home and now only four of us are alive. I got into a block with the group fit for work, where they bathed us, shaved us, cut our hair off, gave us shabby clothes (by chance I could keep my shoes), and led us into a block where we lay on the floor. Rain fell in as there was no roof and we lay around half nude in dust, dirt and mud. We lived in continuous anxiety since there were selections all the time. Transports of people left to do work in different places but we were nervous and afraid of anything new and did not want to lose each other. We managed to be part of a mending kommando. Nevertheless, my younger sister was singled out at one point and was separated from me. When they held these selections we were running from one block to another like fools or rather like poisoned rats, we did not even have the courage to re-enter our block to have lunch or to report for roll call. This was how we managed to survive this place till November, when only the last 2,000 people remained in our block, and we were also selected for a transport. Rations were horrible in Auschwitz. We got some green grass as food, and if we had luck there were also some potato peels swimming in it. Naturally, sand and pebbles, used for making the soup denser, were grating between our teeth. We did not mind leaving Auschwitz any more because we lived here in continuous anxiety, and although I got no “camp sickness,” many did so. They took us in disinfecting building every fortnight. They grabbed all our clothes and we ran around here nude until next disinfection when they gave us some rags if there were. Meanwhile, we lived in terror, worried that we would not even return to our block but would be right away sent into gas chamber. We hardly did any work during our stay in Auschwitz but were already up at 2 am to turn out for roll call. In November, after three days travel 300 of us arrived in Rawensbrück. We got here quite decent supplies and were just waiting to carry on in another transport. We ended up in Lippstadt completely frozen in a piece of thin cloth in the middle of winter, and in summer shoes so they got scared of us when we arrived. Here they gave us everything: food and cutlery. We lived in the factory and worked between 6.15 am and 5.45 pm. The woman doctor of the place warned us to stay as much in the open as possible because work had harmful effects. Every day we had warm water so we could wash; and everyone slept in her own bed. If you did not have clothes they would give you, and they gave us even shoes. At the beginning provisions were good: one quarter of a loaf of bread a day, but later it got much worse. We also did some work in private as dressmakers so we got the rations of the SS, and we could not particularly complain about treatment either. An SS woman guarded us in the plant. If they caught you at stealing they would cut your hair off. We worked in an aircraft factory where we prepared clocks. I worked always in day shifts. We did not suffer from cold because later we also got coats. We did not work from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning. During this time we could perform plays, where also the SS was present. Later, air raid alarms became frequent as there were a great number of air attacks but bombs fell only in the nearby. During the time we stayed here we ran down to ground floor only four times. Germans came to the same place because there were no air raid shelters. We stayed here till April, when we were evacuated and started marching. We walked more than we stayed still. We departed with a loaf of bread each and did not see bread in the following three weeks. There were 350 of us when we set off. We also travelled by train for three days. That was how we arrived in Leipzig. We did not have the courage to fall behind because we were scared of starving to death. In Leipzig we found ourselves in the middle of horrible bombings. We though we would die there all when a bomb fell to ground only two metres from us but miraculously no one was hurt. On the way we got a little warm food only once. As soon as we arrived to a place and wanted to have some rest we realised we had to carry on because the English were hard on our trail. Also Leipzig was being evacuated when we arrived. We met here a group of around 6,000 prisoners, both Christians and Jews, and we carried on together with them. We stayed five days in a forest. We were poured by rain and had cold, we had hardly any energy left. They would shoot dead anyone who just stepped off road, who wanted to dig out a piece of potato or who could not carry on because of fatigue. We arrived in horrible conditions to the river Elba. We could not cross the bridge because it had been already blown up while masses of the population used the ferry. As it could not carry all of us the 85 of us Hungarians with an SS guard fell behind. The following morning we beseeched the guard to have another day rest and we managed to persuade him. By night we heard horrible noises, there was a serious attack and great clamour, and we realised they had blown the bridge up. The day after our guard was already dressed as a civilian. We were much surprised when Russians arrived, we could hardly believe our eyes when a Russian Cossack was standing in front of us. This was how we were liberated. Naturally, the first thing to do was to bring some food into the granary where we stayed. However, we could not stay there for long because it was dangerous: we were only 11 kilometres away from the frontline. We carried on walking another 8 kilometres and had a rest in a village. We went on walking again because we wanted to arrive home on foot. We walked for two weeks before we arrived in Cottbus, where they did not allow us to carry on but lodged us in private places and we stayed there for six weeks. Czech cars came to fetch us and carried us to Prague. My future plans: unfortunately, I still have no idea what to do. I am still waiting to see if my husband turns up or if I can get to know what happened to him. I do not want to go on living in uncertainty. When it happens I will decide about my future.

Labour Service