I was born in Brody, Poland, in 1921. I was the oldest of six children in the family.  Only my brother Kalman and I survived the Holocaust.

 

My brother Yitzak Yosef died before the war when he was 7 years old. My brother Hersh Nuta, 7 years old, died after a Selection.  Our mother went with him on the train.  He was afraid to go alone.  She did not have to go but chose to go.  She told me, I was 18 at the time, that I was old enough to take care of myself, but Hersh Nuta was just a little boy.  My sister Hinda Mala, 15 years old, was killed in Starochowice trying to escape. My sister Hanna Paru, 16 years old, along with 120 other beautiful young women, was picked during a Selection while in the Starochowice ghetto.  Each of these young girls helped to dig a large hole which ended up serving as her own grave after she was shot in the back. My brother Kalman (17 years old) and grandma Rosa went on the same train with my mother, Rifka Ruchelle. However, my brother Kalman survived.

                                                

From 1939-1944, I was taken to Starochowice, Poland, where I worked in forced labor camp.  There I worked the kitchen detail and also worked in a factory where I made ammunitions. In 1944, I was taken to Auschwitz where I lived for one year.  After that I was taken to Evenszem, Austria.  The Americans liberated this camp on May 8, 1945.  

 

Afterwards, I lived in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany.  There I met my husband Samuel.  In 1946, we married while in the DP camp and then moved to Paris, France, where our son Lucien Simon was born in 1947.  Next, we moved to Detroit, MI where our daughter Betty Rae was born in 1948.                                    

Families should cherish one another. There is nothing more important than family.