Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

And how long ‘til the end of the war?

We were there ‘til the end of the war, and I was the first one to hear when the war ended that my mother had survived. I have it in writing from her that she survived, and "Please let the children—we are well and going back home," and was signed by her Christian name Erma and her sister's name Berta. By the time I got the note she was already dead but, of course, I thought she was alive. And that was the worst thing that could have happened. That all the years of the war I was preparing myself for the possibility of not seeing her again. And then she was given to me. I was the first person of the school to hear and everybody was so happy for me—so pleased. And I thanked God everyday, because it was the only thing I wanted in life: to see her again, to look after her. I mean, I was sixteen. I wanted to work for her—I wanted, you know, and then I enlisted in the first transport the school was, was organ...organizing to transport us—to repatriate us back those of us who were orphaned. And, and uh, you know, a couple of days before I left...

You got the word.

But you see all that is in my diary. And that's part of it. I think, I ga...gave you, sort of, some leaflets, didn't I?

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