by Kathleen Castner
A synopsis of Yom HaShoah and a video interview of a Holocaust survivor.
In English, Yom HaShoah is known as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It memorializes the atrocities that were committed against Jewish people in World War II. Not to mention, it also pays homage to its victims—the six million Jews who died in the “Shoah”, or Holocaust. The perpetrators of the Holocaust subjected Jews and other victims to starvation, forced labor, and physical abuse. This year, Yom HaShoah was celebrated from April 7 through April 8, where Jewish people around the world light candles and gather to hear the stories of Holocaust survivors.
Below, is the survival story of my own grandmother, Edith Hausman. She grew up in Germany and was only seven years old when she was forced to go to an internment camp. My brother and I made this video interview when we were in seventh grade.
How did you know the Holocaust was happening?
I realized the Holocaust was happening because we did not get our visas, which you need to go to America. They didn't give it to my father right away, they said, they will be forthcoming. And we should wait. But, forthcoming was a little too long. All of a sudden, the Nazis came into our home.
My father was not allowed to continue with the business to my mother, they both worked there, and the Nazis took over the business. And all of a sudden, they took my whole family and shipped us to the train station where we would be taking a train to go somewhere. I really was too young. I was seven years old.
On the train, I did not realize what was happening. Were we going on a vacation? I didn’t know where we were going or what was happening, but I knew all these people weren't going on vacation with us. Therefore, I realized that something was happening.
Somehow, at the train station, there were hundreds and hundreds of people there, and one freight train, not a regular, nice train, but a freight train came. We were all, as many as could fit, pushed into a compartment on the train. And we rode on this train for at least two days. They did not distribute very much food. My parents, I guess, had taken some food along. We were not allowed to take any possessions before we left home. I think they allowed one suitcase each, but there wasn’t much you could get into one suitcase. So of course, we had no toys and only a few clothes.
All of a sudden, after two and a half days, we landed in France. They were going to take everyone to Poland. But there was not enough room in Poland. So, they found a concentration camp that was previously occupied by the Spanish during the Spanish Revolution.
After another train ride, they let us off in this camp called Gurs. No one had ever heard of it. But that's where they put us. And they deposited hundreds and hundreds of people into that camp. Also, our father was separated from us, he was shipped to a different camp farther away. However, my grandparents were with us. And all they gave us was a very, very thin mattress. Anyone who has ever been to the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum will see the barrack that we lived in. I think they gave us one blanket but not very much. And once or twice a day you got some measly food.
How did you get to the camp? What were the conditions like in the camp?
Well, first of all, it was quite a long time. We were at Gurs for at least a year and a half. Then, we were transferred into another camp in an effort to get us to Poland where the executions took place. This camp was called Rivesaltes. It was also in France, specifically in the southern part of France. We were there for over a year and the conditions were not much better. So, my grandmother was with us, but my grandfather had died. He didn't have the right medicine to help him. My father was in another camp further away. After about a year, my mother put my sister and me into a different sort of facility where they were only children. It wasn’t much better, but it was slightly better. It was also under the German Nazis, but it was slightly We got slightly better food and slightly better medical attention My sister and I had gotten sick in the camps and got poor treatment in the other camp. So, we got a little bit better care there.
After being in that facility for a year, we got a letter from a Jewish family that my parents knew. They were quite well to do, they knew my parents, and they wanted to help. So, my sister and I were always together and they let my sister and I go live with this family in a town in France, near Switzerland, called Annecy. It took a long time to get there and we were supposed to be with these people for about two weeks, like a little vacation. They had food and wonderful accommodations.
We had a plaque with us because we just began to speak French, we didn't know it that well. On the plaque was the address of where these people live. Finally, we arrived in this very, lovely town of Annecy with these very nice people. They had, at that time, two boys about my sister’s age. And we blended in with them, and they were going to keep us for two weeks. However, what happened is that after these two weeks, the facility where my sister and I stayed, which was called an orphanage, was taken over by the Germans. So, if these people would have sent us back, the Germans would have taken us to Poland, probably to an execution camp, like Auschwitz.
So, these French people kept us and never sent us back to the camp. They kept us even though they had children of their own. They happened to be wealthy people. But, the point is that they were very, very wonderful people and saved my sister’s and my life.
How were you rescued?
We became close with this family. As a matter of fact, we're still in touch with them today. Though, the year was 1942 and the town had not been occupied. But about six months later, the town became occupied by the Germans. But, these nice people took care of us. They rescued us. They themselves had to hide and were able to hide with nuns and priests. And my grandmother came to join us. She's the only other one that survived. We didn't know at the time that my parents did not survive.
We hid in an apartment in Annecy and it was a little bit dangerous. We could not go to school, we could not function properly, and we could only go get food at night. It was a very dangerous time because this was not the kind of town where there were many Jewish people. So, the Nazis kept asking the community if they knew if any Jewish people were hiding. But, the people happened to be nice and did not tell us. It is a pure miracle that we were hidden in this particular apartment for about two years. Therefore, since the people were so kind and did not say, oh, in this apartment, they are some Jewish people, we survived. It was a miracle.
Sources
1. USHMM Staff. (2020). 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration [Photograph]. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://www.ushmm.org/online-calendar/event/DIGFBCHINTLREMDAY0120