I worked in a straw factory in the Lodz Ghetto.  My father, my brothers, Shlomo and Hershel, and my sister Basha and her young family all were killed in the ghetto.  Basha had two children.  The Germans took one her children by its feet and smashed her head.  Basha was made to see this. After that, nothing interested her in life anymore.  

In 1944, the Lodz Ghetto was to become “Judenrein,” (free of Jews).  There was no place to hide.  My mother, my sister Guta, and I were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau by cattle train.  When we arrived at Auschwitz, there was a Selection.  My sister and I survived the Selection but my mother tragically, was sent to the gas chamber.  

After Auschwitz, Guta and I were taken to a city near Hamburg, Germany where we worked until January, 1945.  We worked in the streets clearing rubble.  I remember once someone threw us an apple and a piece of bread.  We were always hungry.  From there, we were taken to Bergen-Belsen by train.  One more week at Bergen-Belsen and we all would have been dead.  I was together throughout with my sister, Guta.

Be good people. Live good lives and to make sure it never happens again.