Rivka Edelstein

MOTHER – Mother was sick before we left home. They took us at Passover. She died before they had a chance to drag her out and torture her.

FATHER – I remember him the morning of Passover at 4:00 a.m, when they announced that everybody had to assemble in the synagogue. Everyone could bring 20 kilos. Father sat on the bed and said, "It's good that mother is not here to live through this. Who knows what's going to become of us?" That was in 1944.

FIRST BROTHER – My older brother survived even though he was in many camps. When he was released, he was all bones. In the hospital he thought: "Why should I go home? Who is left? My mother is dead, my brother too. Father couldn't stay alive because he had only one eye and the second needed treatment three times a day. So they must have burned him. And how could Rivka stay alive when she didn't even know what cold water was?" Soon after, he saw my name on a survivor list. He came running back to Slovakia. That morning when he came, I was brushing my teeth and I saw a figure in an SS coat coming up stairs. He was a real skeleton, and I was only able to recognize him by his eyes. I had a real shock, and I began to pinch him. I couldn't believe that he was alive.

SECOND BROTHER – My younger brother tried to escape. On the road his feet became frozen, so he couldn't run anymore. The Nazis took him and they shot him.

SELF PAST AND HOLOCAUST – At Auschwitz, Mengele stood there proclaiming life or death, life or death. When I first arrived in Auschwitz, across from us was a group of Czech political prisoners, non-Jews who were there for as long as five years. Even some children were born there. They were in their own clothing. Some wore fur or sheepskin coats. They said in Czech, "Give us your soup. You won't be able to eat it. You're not hungry enough yet." The soup was dirty water and bread. In the camp I found a cousin. She was an inmate like me, but she volunteered to work in the kitchen which meant lifting 120-kilo kettles and standing in water up to your knees. She said that she did it so she could help other people. Every night she sneaked me an extra portion of food, a piece of bread, a little salt. That was a matter of life and death for me. When people knew that they were for burning, they went around like poisoned fish from one place to another to conceal themselves. Three times I was destined for the crematorium, and three times my cousin saved me. Once, she hid me under an empty barrel in the kitchen. Another time, she bribed a guard, who was watching over the crematorium-bound inmates, with a pair of silk stockings.

Ida Heyck

FATHER – He fell during World War I in 1914. For three weeks, I believe, he was on the front and then there was a shelling and everything was destroyed. I was two years old when my father left for the war.

FIRST BROTHER – He was also here in this old age home. He died at the age of 72. I worshipped my brother. He was the oldest, and he was very, very kind. I was also his favorite sister and the others were jealous. Yes, he was a good person. And I think I can also consider myself to be like that.

FIRST SISTER – That is the oldest sister. She was an outsider. She enjoyed quarreling with our brother. I didn't always get along so well with her. There was also jealousy, you know, with four girls and one boy. She still visits me here today. She has a husband who is very ill. He is in a wheelchair. And I have to say that she sacrifices herself a lot for her husband.

SECOND SISTER – Emma is a widow too. She also had a very sick husband. He had multiple sclerosis.

THIRD SISTER – She died and left two children behind who were raised by my sister Emma. They are already 40 and 45 years old now. How fast the time passes. She was a kind and good girl. She was also tall and attractive. I always called here Miss Germany. She had beautiful blonde hair, blue eyes, and an attractive figure. Miss Germany. I was very proud of my little sister.

SELF PAST – First of all, I thought of my husband's death. We had a good marriage. I couldn't have any children because I had diabetes. It was forbidden in those days. Today it is no problem at all anymore. I was very sad about that. And then we were bombed out, totally bombed out. We lost everything and had to start all over again. But I have to say that my course of life has been quite good until today.

SELF WAR – Horrible, horrible. I didn't think that we would survive, especially not in Hamburg. The bombings there were really horrible. We lived directly in Hamburg, downtown. It was a catastrophe. I could not live through something like that again. I was young in those days and, with the strength I had, I could master it. I had my husband, and he was my backbone.

SELF PRESENT – Yes, I am at ease about my present. I can't do anything more except go to die. We are here in a nursing home, after all. Once you are in here you don't get out any more so easily. You can only prolong your years in here by living properly and keeping all the rules. I mean, you have to adapt yourself. They can't adapt themselves to us. That doesn't work, but we have to do it, and I am very good at that, very good.

SELF FUTURE – Well, I have a nice life now since I can walk again. And with my neighbor with whom I share a room I just had a nice time on my birthday. We went to eat, then took a beautiful walk, and afterwards had coffee and cake. It was really nice.

ABOUT THE WAR – We personally were not affected so much, but the war years were terrible from 1939 until 1945, you know. Yes, Hitler was in Hamburg once in a while and I saw him personally. Once I had my little nephew in my arms. He was one and a half years old, an adorable child. He said, "Heil Hitler." Believe me, I will never forget that image. Hitler had a radiant expression on his face afterwards. He liked children. In a way, that was my most beautiful experience. My husband had a Jewish friend and he helped him to get out. And later on, when it was more peaceful again, he came back and supported my husband a lot. They were colleagues. I myself went twice to Israel. It was wonderful there. There were many German Jews there. They had to get out of Germany, after all. It was beautiful, the two times I was there. We had good food and, above all, they didn't hate Germans. No, they didn't. It was nice. I have to say that Adolf Hitler was not bad, not bad. The small people were the bad ones. In former times we could go out onto the streets at night to go to the theater or cinema. You cannot do that anymore today. You are afraid while waiting for the trolley that somebody might attack you suddenly. It wasn't like that under Hitler. Everybody was busy. The young men had to be in the labor service until they were drafted, and the girls had to work on farms. And it was right that way. Look, people were tired and slept at night. And now, with the unemployment, they stay in bed until eleven o'clock and then in the evening they roam about.