Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Edith Kozlowski - August 19, 2010

Traveling to Auschwitz

Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the circumstances that you were taken from Blizyn to Auschwitz? Were you...

Oh, this was in uh, in wagons already. We didn't know where we're going.

So you had never heard of Auschwitz?

No.

No.

We'd never heard of Auschwitz.

Did you guys have any idea of what was going on in places like--well if you'd never heard of Auschwitz?

No, no. We came in and we didn't notice anything wrong. We thought that we were going to work. We didn't know about the crematoriums.

Yeah.

Because, there was a band, when we came in to Auschwitz. Where they--where we got off the wagons.

Yeah.

And there was a Selektion.

There was a Selektion?

Oh, lot of--they took a lot of people.

Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Well, all I can tell you is that I was in front. I sent my two sisters in front of me, all the time.

Mm-hm.

Being the oldest, in case they tell 'em go to the left end. They won't mind if another Jewish woman goes to the left. But if they'll go right then I'll know they'll be okay, they'll work. As it happened, we all went to the right.

Yeah.

We all went to the right.

Do you remember, [pause] a lot of people like to think--or, say that it was Mengele.

Mengele, yeah, sure.

Do you think it was?

Yeah. And what's her name, Susan, I forget her name the Kapo. She was under Mengele.


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