When I was 18 or 19, I went to Budapest with a friend. I was a seamstress and made uniforms for the Hungarian army believing this would keep us safe. We had to wear the yellow star.
The Nazis came in 1944 and all Jews had to report. One day my friend and I went to go to work and a soldier caught us. They took us by truck to Germany. We went to work at a brick factory and made a life there.
In May 1944, we were taken to Auschwitz. I was strong and always wanted to live. I was in Auschwitz during the high holidays.
I was then taken to Bergen-Belsen where we slept on the floor. After that we went to Umerlusz, women’s work camp near Hamburg, Germany. We were treated well there with food and beds. It was clean and good. No one got sick there.
The Nazis then took us back to Bergen-Belsen which was terrible. They made us take the dead people who died there and put them in big piles.
In April, 1945, the British soldiers came and said everyone could go home.
I went home in July. I didn’t want to go back to my city but I saw in the newspaper that my brother Joseph had returned home so I went home too.
I later married my husband in Hungary and we had one daughter, Agnes.
I always told myself I would live; I wouldn't give in to the Germans. Mengele pointed to me once, but then he was distracted by someone else and my friend grabbed me and we ran away.
After returning to Kantorjanosi, I came directly to United States. My husband was a fitter at Hughes & Hatcher, a men’s clothing store in Detroit, I worked there too.