Yudit was born in 1930 in the Czechoslovakia. After surviving several concentration camps, she managed to come by boat to Israel on the 15th of May at the beginning of the Independence War. Yudit met her husband in Israel in a Kibbutz. Also he was a survivor of the Holocaust. Together they got 3 children. Yudit lost her husband several years ago. Spring this year, she moved to the Haifa Home. Yudit feels an urgency to share her story as this should never be forgotten. In May 2015, Yudit even went to Germany for an ICEJ event to share to a large crowd about her experiences. Even though she is still very active, her sight is not so good anymore. Yudit told us that ‘I am so thankful that I can live in the Haifa Home in a community with other survivors and where people are taking care of me’.
Yudit was 9 years old when the Germans invaded her home country. The situation became soon very difficult for Jewish families. In 1941 the Germans began to transport Jews to Poland. Yudit’s family remained in their home until March 1942 and then were sent to Theresienstadt (Terezin, Czech Republic). There all the Jews were placed in huge barracks with overcrowded rooms. Yudit was often sick and had all the possible diseases, scarlet fever, TB, typhus etc.
There were regular transports to Auschwitz and in October 1944 Yudit, her parents and sister were also sent there. Her brother was already sent earlier on. While sitting in the cattle train with at least a hundred people, locked and without a window, they quickly understood what would happen. Arriving in Auschwitz the men and women were separated by doctor Mengele and forced to take a shower without receiving a towel to dry. This was in October, and it was so cold. After that they were forced to work.
When the Germans realized they were losing the war, they forced them to walk for several days in rags, shoes that didn’t fit, and no food. They ended up in Gross-Rosen. After 10 days they were brought in a train to another camp, Bergen-Belsen. People starved to death. The camp was liberated by English soldiers in April 1945. Her mother and sister Chava were very sick, and her mom died a week after the liberation.
Chava and Yudit made their way back to the Czech Republic in August. Her brother also survived the war. Yudit was 15 years old and decided to leave, informing her siblings ‘I will not stay in a place where I am not wanted. I will go to Israel’.
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