Ella Marton

Date of birth

05/13/1925

Where were you born?

Tchachovo, Czechoslovakia

Negrest, Romania

Name of father, occupation

Hershel, Carpenter and furniture maker

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Cecelia Braun, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents, Ella, Esther, Isaac

How many in entire extended family?

Large extended family

Who survived the Holocaust?

Me, my sister Esther, my father's brother and three cousins'

Name of Ghetto(s)

Satu Mare

Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)

Auschwitz Birkenau / Braumberg (Ammunition Factory) / Stutthof

Where did you settle?

We came to Buffalo, New York.

Occupation after the war

Caterer

When and where were you married?

1946 in Austria

Spouse

Ludwig Berman, Factory worker, then insurance salesman

Children

Harvey, Sidney, and Sherry

Grandchildren

Six

What do you think helped you to survive?

I remember at Auschwitz, being in a line, I was very skinny. They were going to put me on a wagon to gas me. The Jewish overseer of my barracks got me off the wagon and saved my life. When I was in the concentration camps, I kept thinking, wait till I get home, I’ll tell everybody about all the terrible things I went through. When I got home, nobody was there. When I got to America, nobody wanted to know. After the war, you tried not to think about it, but it’s always there. When we first came to America, some people thought we did something bad to deserve the Holocaust, that it was coming to us, we were a pariah. We didn’t speak good English, we were “greeners,” newcomers, and some people thought we were dumb; I tried to rise above this.

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

Interviewer:

Charles Silow

Interview date:

07/17/2008