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After some time we heard rumors that we were going to be taken to a concentration camp. Then we were told to prepare some food and clothes to take with us. Then all inmates were ordered to come to the territory of the brick factory. We spent I don’t know how many days in the open air on the factory territory. From there we were taken to the railway station and went to Auschwitz by train. We traveled in an overcrowded train for about a week. We didn’t get any food on the way. This happened in April 1944. When we came to the concentration camp we didn’t know what kind of place it was. Later I got to know that this was Auschwitz.
I wasn’t even in the same carriage with my brother. I wanted to go with my friend Frida and my brother wanted to be with his friends. In Auschwitz my mother and I got separated. The guard shouted that older and younger people should stand in separate lines. They said that they were going to take the older ones on a truck. I hugged my mother and said, ‘I’ll see you soon!’. We were not meant to see each other ever again. My mother perished in the gas chamber in Auschwitz on the day of our arrival.
I wasn’t even in the same carriage with my brother. I wanted to go with my friend Frida and my brother wanted to be with his friends. In Auschwitz my mother and I got separated. The guard shouted that older and younger people should stand in separate lines. They said that they were going to take the older ones on a truck. I hugged my mother and said, ‘I’ll see you soon!’. We were not meant to see each other ever again. My mother perished in the gas chamber in Auschwitz on the day of our arrival.
Period
Year
1944
Location
Poland
Interview
Tilda Galpert