Alica Weiszfeiler

* 1933

  • "The Germans built one huge Wehrmacht camp near Bergen-Belsen. In 1945, they emptied several villages to build a camp there. The English cleaned several houses and took sick people there as the first. They set up a bathing and disinfection station. On April 15, we were liberated, and on the morning of April 23, two British soldiers came with a stretcher and took my sick mother. I started to scream a lot. They caught me and also put me on a stretcher, gave us a good bath, gave us a clean white sheet and took us to the building called Revíra. We got into the nice white bed in which mom later died. Mom died after liberation. April 28, 1945. She had typhus, she got sick a few days before liberation."

  • "They also had an Appelplatz in Bergen Belsen. It was terrible, because before we always had to stand in the winter or were unexpectedly evicted, but here they stopped. Since March, people kept coming, there was nowhere to move and breathe. They probably thought they would destroy us with hunger and disease. They didn't give us food, they turned off the water, there were no toilets, only a latrine. People had diarrhoea, as they ran, it flowed from them. We are fortunate that on April 15 (the war was still on) we were liberated by British soldiers. They were very smart. Although there was still a war, they were saving people."

  • "And we traveled for about two or three days and reached Auschwitz. If you imagine the entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau and the rails, our wagons pulled right in front of the crematorium. We heard that they couldn't come to an agreement, there were several soldiers guarding and organizing tasks. Some said to quickly load us into the crematorium, because everything is still warm, and others shouted that the crematorium should be turned off. They argued. So we spent the night on those railroad tracks in wagons and were sent further to Germany next to Berlin to the Ravensbrück women's camp. They had been in the camp for several years, they already had their habits. The train stopped. They always did it so that the locals couldn't see it. They forced us across the field. We got on some road and then we came to the gate of the camp in front of a big gray gate with the inscription Arbeit macht frei and gave the order to separate the men and women."

  • "Then we moved to Kežmarok, where my father was born and had siblings there. His brother found us an apartment and we settled there. We were in Kežmarok for several stages. We were with my uncle from 1940 to 1942, when the transports began. Girls went first, then men and entire families. A star shone on us. At night, my father took us in a car to the village in eastern Slovakia, where my brother was born. They hid us there. They took everyone to the transports. So we sat there in a small apartment hidden for three months, until the transports stopped and we moved again to Kežmarok. We were locked in the shelter the whole time. If they anyone knew about us, they would report us and take us. There were no such sewers then, so it was a bit of a problem. They brought us food there. Especially in the evening when it was dark. (I brought my CV in German.) I remember everything. Only our family was in the hidding - me, father, mother and brother. When everything calmed down, certain persons were allowed to return to economic life."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Izrael, 09.12.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:40:41
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th century
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I still suffer from anxiety and fear, but there is something stronger in me that always pushes me forward

Alica Weisfeiler - photo from recording.
Alica Weisfeiler - photo from recording.
zdroj: Photo by Dominik Janovský

Alica Weiszfeiler, born Goldman, was born on November 28, 1933 in Moravská Ostrava. Her family was of Jewish origin and immigrated from Slovakia. In 1939, they were forced to move back to Slovakia. Uncertain times awaited them there due to the growing power of anti-Semitism. In Bratislava, it became increasingly difficult for Jews to live, so the father decided that he and his family would move to Kežmarok. The family was later forced to hide in Kežmark to avoid being transported to concentration camps. However, Alica‘s father and brother were caught and put in prison. Finally, Alice and her mother also ended up in it, and later the family did not even avoid transport. She arrived in front of the crematoria of the Auswitz-Birkenau camp, where the Nazis divided the family. Alica and her mother continued to the concentration camp in Ravensbrück. Before liberation, they found themselves in Bergen-Belsen in appalling living conditions, where the Nazis left them hungry and thirsty. Many prisoners died in the camp. The camp was liberated by British troops. At that time, there were about 60,000 prisoners in it. The British set up a camp for the sick, where Alice‘s mother was also placed. Alica‘s mother died of typhus. Alice found herself in an orphanage. At that time, many children were headed for adoption in Sweden to local families. Little Alica refused, however, because she wanted to get back to Slovakia. She was convinced that she would meet her father and brother. She first got to Prague, where her uncle found her in a children‘s home, and then quickly traveled to Kežmarok. Alica‘s father remarried and Alica got a half-sister. Later he moved to Israel and Alica went to study in Belgium. After her studies, she found herself in Israel, where she started a new life and finally married Alfred Weiszfeiler there. 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren were born into her family.