Erna Staub
"Inner strength and hope for the future are the two most important qualities. Never forget the past! Erna’s daughter, Julie Engelberg, related that her mother was a sweet, kind woman but was a woman who had a strength about her. She was determined to make her life better for her daughter. She worked and worked to make sure that her daughter never went without and went without for herself. They were best friends."
Name at birth
Ernesztina Gottdiener
Date of birth
04/18/1915
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Nyiregyhaza, Hungary
Name of father, occupation
Lorenc Gottdiener,
Firewood business owner
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Regina (Rebecca) Springer,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents, two daughters, one son: Margaret (Mepen), me and Mishka (Mickey) who died of typhus after returning from Auschwitz
How many in entire extended family?
Over 60
Who survived the Holocaust?
My sister Margaret and me, my maternal granfather's brother and about ten cousins came back.'
I was transported in a cattle train to Auschwitz with my mother, my mother-in-law to be, my sister Margaret, my brother Mickey and others. My sister Margaret and I survived the initial Selection when we arrived at Auschwitz, everyone else was killed. I was later sent to Mauthausen where I worked in a factory making metal chains for tanks.
When the war ended, I went to Budapest to find my close girlfriend. She had survived the war in Budapest working as a nurse for German soldiers. The Germans knew she was Jewish but kept her alive because they needed her as a nurse.
Right outside my girlfriend’s apartment, I ran into her brother, Leslie Staub, who I knew before the war. He had been sent to Siberia. He escaped from there and came back to Hungary. Leslie and I were married within a week. We moved back to Nyiregyhaza. We left Hungary in 1956 because of the Hungarian Revolution. My sister was living in Detroit and so we moved there.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
Occupation after the war
Homemaker, Seamstress
Spouse
Laszlo Staub,
Businessman, attorney, and sports official
Children
Julie Engelberg retired art history and humanities professor, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Grandchildren
One: Tony Engelberg
What do you think helped you to survive?
Sheer will and faith.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Inner strength and hope for the future are the two most important qualities. Never forget the past!
Erna’s daughter, Julie Engelberg, related that her mother was a sweet, kind woman but was a woman who had a strength about her. She was determined to make her life better for her daughter. She worked and worked to make sure that her daughter never went without and went without for herself. They were best friends.
Erna’s daughter, Julie Engelberg, related that her mother was a sweet, kind woman but was a woman who had a strength about her. She was determined to make her life better for her daughter. She worked and worked to make sure that her daughter never went without and went without for herself. They were best friends.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
09/08/2009
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