They Survived the Holocaust…

This section features the true experiences of Holocaust Survivors we see and visit today.  This is to fulfill their requests,

“Remember us!  Tell others of our experiences so we are not forgotten!”

(Caution: True accounts, as related by the Survivor, may be difficult to read)

~Idi~

Idi was born in Slovakia and was ten years old when the war broke out. Her entire family wanted to escape after Pesach but it was too late. Also, some Gentiles wanted to hid them but in the end, they betrayed them all.

Idi was one of five sisters in the Ushgarot Ghetto, including twins. One job they had was to dig tunnels for the Germans, then eventually they were moved to Poland, into a concentration camp. There Idi helped to keep her sisters alive.

The Nazis hung their parents and the sisters had to dig [their grave]. After that all their family was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The rest of their family died in the crematorium.

Her sisters who were twins were among those on whom Mengela was doing experiements. At one point her grandfather wanted to hug them in the camp but the Nazis electrocuted him and he died.

The girls received water for breakfast, lunch was water and some bread and dinner was two slices of bread. They stole food to survive. Out of 1100 prisoners in the camp, 700 were killed at one point leaving only 400 living.

Eventually the Russians liberated them, took them to the Red Cross camp and then returned them to Slovakia. When they arrived they found their home was taken over by neighbors who called themselves “Christians.”

Idi came to Israel when she was 13 with three of her sisters in 1949. It took one month to Cyprus by ship. She met her future husband on the ship. One of her sisters married and stayed in Slovakia.

Idi was in the Israeli army and continued to volunteer in the army afterward. She fought in three wars: Sinai, Yom Kippur and the Six Day War. Her story is listed in Yad Vashem.

Today Idi volunteers when she can at a club in Akko, helping soldiers and other Survivors.