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955: 28 People Hiding In The Loft Rivka Reich Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Rivka Reich (age 4), Oradea, Hungary, 1944: Our soap factory backed onto the railway station where they took Jews to Auschwitz. We thought going to Auschwitz would be just hard labour; we didn’t think further. But my father was different. He thought we must escape. People thought that they would go to Auschwitz & come back & find all their riches. My father & grandfather as well. They hid their silver & money in the ground. When the SS came, they knew that the Jews did that so, they interviewed him & they… I don’t know how to say it. They really hurt him, with electric wires. All full of blood. So he told them straightaway where everything was. Nobody wanted to be killed for that. That was the beginning of the terrible times. After that my father was trying to think how we can escape, how we can go. Then he thought: in the actual factory there was a loft with a roof, one more floor, never used, but you could go up. He thought maybe we could hide there. We had a non-Jewish manager, called Appan. He was very nice to us. They offered him a house & my mother's diamond ring. He said, 'I'll look after you, hide into this rooftop. Your wife, yourself & your two children. I'll bring food & look after you for as long as needed.' My father told my grandfather about it, my grandfather was very upset. He said 'Why don’t you come with us to Auschwitz? You will be able to work for us, we are elderly people'. My father said 'no.' My grandfather was terribly upset. After that all the people came to speak to my father. He was considered something quite special in town: very clever, very capable. They came all to him: 'Herr Rothbart, maybe you can think of something to save us.' My father told one person, Yankel Schreiber, 'I'm thinking of going into the loft.' 'Can we come with?” So they came, with six children, so there were eight people. My mother took us for a bath in the Mikveh. Berish Weiss saw her there & said 'What are you going to do?' My mother said 'We are going to hide. Come with us.' Another three people. And it grew. The Schreibers came, and then there was a Mrs Fuchs who was a widow with two children, she came as well. My nanny came and a few other young men who were begging to come. It turned out that at the end of the day we were 28 people instead of 4. Which was a tremendous thing, it was a small area, we could just about lie down, we couldn’t walk around, the facilities were just a bucket & only food we survived with was what this fellow brought for four people. We could hear from the window, still now I can hear it, the footsteps of the SS with the big boots, it was so frightening. But people laid down, because when people laid down they don’t move so much. My father said 'If everybody lies down you save energy, & they don’t hear you either”, at night especially. If somebody fell asleep, if they made the slightest noise, that was terrible, so one of us was always up to see that nobody should make a noise & nobody should move. At night noises are always amplified. Just below we could see them walking up & down, taking the people from the ghetto to Auschwitz. Appan brought chazzer [non-kosher meat] with whatever he had. I was allowed to eat it, because I was 4. If a 4-year-old child starts crying or makes the slightest noise, everybody gets endangered, so I was allowed to eat it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu [God] definitely helped all the way, because I didn’t cry. If I wanted to cry or be upset I cried in a cushion & never raised my voice. I had to learn to speak only quietly. For quite a while afterwards I had no voice. I still remember what they used to cook: if he brought some beans, somebody would hold a pan over a candle. That's how we cooked the beans, you can imagine hours standing there, but whatever food they could get would keep us going. They davened [prayed]. We were petrified all the time. There was not a time when we were not, we never could relax. The slightest noise. Rats crawling over you. I coped because my parents were very loving. We suffered, but compared to what people suffered in Auschwitz it was nothing. I can still feel it, I never talked about it for years. But my mother talked about the war a lot: 'We have to talk about the miracles. We are so lucky we are saved, we are saved for something, not just for nothing. There is a purpose in life why we are saved’. She never took it for granted & all her life she had a purpose in life, she helped people, they both did. In those days there were no committees but all their life they helped all war victims, anyone who was victim of anything. They were there to help until their last days. The group hid for 6 weeks until pressure on Appan forced them to make other arrangements. Rivka & her family escaped to Romania & survived. Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Rivka Reich's interview with Dr Rosalyn Livshin for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, December 2005 • Learn More → Rivka Reich Food Helped By Non-Jews Hiding Valuables In Hiding Near Escape Nerves of Steel Recovery Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Hungary Text adapted & edited by Susanna Kleeman See Locations Facebook & Instagram Posts

Rivka Reich (age 4), Oradea, Hungary, 1944: Our soap factory backed onto the railway station where they took Jews to Auschwitz. We thought going to Auschwitz would be just hard labour; we didn’t think further. But my father was different. He thought we must escape. People thought that they would go to Auschwitz & come back & find all their riches. My father & grandfather as well. They hid their silver & money in the ground. When the SS came, they knew that the Jews did that so, they interviewed him & they… I don’t know how to say it. They really hurt him, with electric wires. All full of blood. So he told them straightaway where everything was. Nobody wanted to be killed for that. That was the beginning of the terrible times. After that my father was trying to think how we can escape, how we can go. Then he thought: in the actual factory there was a loft with a roof, one more floor, never used, but you could go up. He thought maybe we could hide there. We had a non-Jewish manager, called Appan. He was very nice to us. They offered him a house & my mother's diamond ring. He said, 'I'll look after you, hide into this rooftop. Your wife, yourself & your two children. I'll bring food & look after you for as long as needed.' My father told my grandfather about it, my grandfather was very upset. He said 'Why don’t you come with us to Auschwitz? You will be able to work for us, we are elderly people'. My father said 'no.' My grandfather was terribly upset. After that all the people came to speak to my father. He was considered something quite special in town: very clever, very capable. They came all to him: 'Herr Rothbart, maybe you can think of something to save us.' My father told one person, Yankel Schreiber, 'I'm thinking of going into the loft.' 'Can we come with?” So they came, with six children, so there were eight people. My mother took us for a bath in the Mikveh. Berish Weiss saw her there & said 'What are you going to do?' My mother said 'We are going to hide. Come with us.' Another three people. And it grew. The Schreibers came, and then there was a Mrs Fuchs who was a widow with two children, she came as well. My nanny came and a few other young men who were begging to come. It turned out that at the end of the day we were 28 people instead of 4. Which was a tremendous thing, it was a small area, we could just about lie down, we couldn’t walk around, the facilities were just a bucket & only food we survived with was what this fellow brought for four people. We could hear from the window, still now I can hear it, the footsteps of the SS with the big boots, it was so frightening. But people laid down, because when people laid down they don’t move so much. My father said 'If everybody lies down you save energy, & they don’t hear you either”, at night especially. If somebody fell asleep, if they made the slightest noise, that was terrible, so one of us was always up to see that nobody should make a noise & nobody should move. At night noises are always amplified. Just below we could see them walking up & down, taking the people from the ghetto to Auschwitz. Appan brought chazzer [non-kosher meat] with whatever he had. I was allowed to eat it, because I was 4. If a 4-year-old child starts crying or makes the slightest noise, everybody gets endangered, so I was allowed to eat it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu [God] definitely helped all the way, because I didn’t cry. If I wanted to cry or be upset I cried in a cushion & never raised my voice. I had to learn to speak only quietly. For quite a while afterwards I had no voice. I still remember what they used to cook: if he brought some beans, somebody would hold a pan over a candle. That's how we cooked the beans, you can imagine hours standing there, but whatever food they could get would keep us going. They davened [prayed]. We were petrified all the time. There was not a time when we were not, we never could relax. The slightest noise. Rats crawling over you. I coped because my parents were very loving. We suffered, but compared to what people suffered in Auschwitz it was nothing. I can still feel it, I never talked about it for years. But my mother talked about the war a lot: 'We have to talk about the miracles. We are so lucky we are saved, we are saved for something, not just for nothing. There is a purpose in life why we are saved’. She never took it for granted & all her life she had a purpose in life, she helped people, they both did. In those days there were no committees but all their life they helped all war victims, anyone who was victim of anything. They were there to help until their last days. The group hid for 6 weeks until pressure on Appan forced them to make other arrangements. Rivka & her family escaped to Romania & survived. 955: 28 People Hiding In The Loft Rivka Reich Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 955: 28 People Hiding In The Loft ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Rivka Reich Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Rivka Reich's interview with Dr Rosalyn Livshin for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, December 2005 • Learn More → Rivka Reich Food Helped By Non-Jews Hiding Valuables In Hiding Near Escape Nerves of Steel Recovery Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Hungary See Locations Full Text Rivka Reich (age 4), Oradea, Hungary, 1944: Our soap factory backed onto the railway station where they took Jews to Auschwitz. We thought going to Auschwitz would be just hard labour; we didn’t think further. But my father was different. He thought we must escape. People thought that they would go to Auschwitz & come back & find all their riches. My father & grandfather as well. They hid their silver & money in the ground. When the SS came, they knew that the Jews did that so, they interviewed him & they… I don’t know how to say it. They really hurt him, with electric wires. All full of blood. So he told them straightaway where everything was. Nobody wanted to be killed for that. That was the beginning of the terrible times. After that my father was trying to think how we can escape, how we can go. Then he thought: in the actual factory there was a loft with a roof, one more floor, never used, but you could go up. He thought maybe we could hide there. We had a non-Jewish manager, called Appan. He was very nice to us. They offered him a house & my mother's diamond ring. He said, 'I'll look after you, hide into this rooftop. Your wife, yourself & your two children. I'll bring food & look after you for as long as needed.' My father told my grandfather about it, my grandfather was very upset. He said 'Why don’t you come with us to Auschwitz? You will be able to work for us, we are elderly people'. My father said 'no.' My grandfather was terribly upset. After that all the people came to speak to my father. He was considered something quite special in town: very clever, very capable. They came all to him: 'Herr Rothbart, maybe you can think of something to save us.' My father told one person, Yankel Schreiber, 'I'm thinking of going into the loft.' 'Can we come with?” So they came, with six children, so there were eight people. My mother took us for a bath in the Mikveh. Berish Weiss saw her there & said 'What are you going to do?' My mother said 'We are going to hide. Come with us.' Another three people. And it grew. The Schreibers came, and then there was a Mrs Fuchs who was a widow with two children, she came as well. My nanny came and a few other young men who were begging to come. It turned out that at the end of the day we were 28 people instead of 4. Which was a tremendous thing, it was a small area, we could just about lie down, we couldn’t walk around, the facilities were just a bucket & only food we survived with was what this fellow brought for four people. We could hear from the window, still now I can hear it, the footsteps of the SS with the big boots, it was so frightening. But people laid down, because when people laid down they don’t move so much. My father said 'If everybody lies down you save energy, & they don’t hear you either”, at night especially. If somebody fell asleep, if they made the slightest noise, that was terrible, so one of us was always up to see that nobody should make a noise & nobody should move. At night noises are always amplified. Just below we could see them walking up & down, taking the people from the ghetto to Auschwitz. Appan brought chazzer [non-kosher meat] with whatever he had. I was allowed to eat it, because I was 4. If a 4-year-old child starts crying or makes the slightest noise, everybody gets endangered, so I was allowed to eat it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu [God] definitely helped all the way, because I didn’t cry. If I wanted to cry or be upset I cried in a cushion & never raised my voice. I had to learn to speak only quietly. For quite a while afterwards I had no voice. I still remember what they used to cook: if he brought some beans, somebody would hold a pan over a candle. That's how we cooked the beans, you can imagine hours standing there, but whatever food they could get would keep us going. They davened [prayed]. We were petrified all the time. There was not a time when we were not, we never could relax. The slightest noise. Rats crawling over you. I coped because my parents were very loving. We suffered, but compared to what people suffered in Auschwitz it was nothing. I can still feel it, I never talked about it for years. But my mother talked about the war a lot: 'We have to talk about the miracles. We are so lucky we are saved, we are saved for something, not just for nothing. There is a purpose in life why we are saved’. She never took it for granted & all her life she had a purpose in life, she helped people, they both did. In those days there were no committees but all their life they helped all war victims, anyone who was victim of anything. They were there to help until their last days. The group hid for 6 weeks until pressure on Appan forced them to make other arrangements. Rivka & her family escaped to Romania & survived. 955: 28 People Hiding In The Loft Rivka Reich Edited from Rivka Reich's interview with Dr Rosalyn Livshin for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, December 2005 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

Germany Uckermark Memories 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers... Previous Location Next Location

Germany Ravensbrück Memories 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers... Previous Location Next Location

953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück September 6, 1944: Selma van de Perre is imprisoned in Ravensbrück for her part in the Dutch resistance: Selma van de Perre Read Full Text Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Home All Memories About Menu Close ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Selma van de Perre's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2020 • Learn More → Selma van de Perre Encounter With Nazi Officials False Name Near Escape Ravensbrück Resistance Slave Labourer Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Germany See Locations Full Text September 6, 1944: Selma van de Perre is imprisoned in Ravensbrück for her part in the Dutch resistance: They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers. Same green-grey colour material. They even wore hats. We were marched to the main camp & put in tents. Selma was there under a non-Jewish false identity & called herself Margarete van der Kuit. No one knew that she was Jewish. It was a lice colony. Within a few weeks everybody was full of lice. We were taken in fives to the shower, made to strip, give up all your clothes. Then the doctor’s investigation. I can’t remember if he had gloves on. But he didn’t wash his hands at least. I was given a very thin blue-grey striped prison dress. That was all. And some wooden shoes. No underwear or anything. But in the barracks they gave me my jumper back. We each had a hollow flannel which we hung at the end of our bunk with a toothbrush & toothpaste in. When we woke up, it had disappeared. Stolen by other women. We learned later on that was quite a normal thing to do. In Ravensbrück, Selma was forced to work as a Siemens slave labourer: You had to solder very fine wire together. At the start I was so nervous I fainted. One evening I couldn’t get up from the loo. My tummy was completely out of order. We were given what they called ‘soup’: water with a few grass sprits in it & that was it. No wonder I was ill. So an SS came & started beating me with his belt, with all these iron things on it. So I fainted again. These two girls had to pick me up & hold me up while he was counting. Then they took me to the hospital barrack for 4 days. Then I went back to Siemens. One day we were told to stand outside the barrack, & they told us that the old women over 50 didn’t have to work anymore, & were to be given better food etc. They were taken to the Jugend camp in Uckermark. We later heard that they were gassed & killed. In October it got very cold. Someone said to me 'There's a Jewish woman who works in the textile barrack. She wants bread for her children. She’ll give you some warm clothes.” So I saved up the week’s sliced bread & went to see her. She gave me a man's long johns. They kept me warm the whole time I was in Ravensbrück. Fantastic. There were so many nationalities there. Polish, Slovaks, Czech, Dutch, French. But no more Jews in the Siemens barracks. They'd all been deported to Auschwitz by then. By then we slept in the Siemens barracks. Better conditions: only two in a bed. Three tiers mind you. But no dogs & no big SS fellows screaming away. Selma was liberated by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945. We were told to stand outside the Siemens barrack. We thought we’d get the same treatment as the old people a few months beforehand. You couldn’t flee because there were Germans on the side of you with dogs. Then we passed Uckermark, luckily & got to the big camp. We were very pleased in a way, but still scared because what’s going to happen! Every day we thought we’d be taken out because we knew they were killing women. You could smell it. The crematorium was going all the time. One day my Czech friend said 'You’re going to be freed Marga: you've got a Red Cross parcel.' So, we said, “Well we hope so.” I gave her a piece of bread, biscuits, & some sausage. She had been very good to me. We then stood outside. That was morning. Nothing came for a while. In the afternoon suddenly a little sportscar came. Out jumped a young Swede. He told us Count Bernadotte was coming with white buses to drive us to Sweden. But the buses didn’t come. We stood there the whole night. Suddenly military trucks came. We were told to jump in. A friend & I fought for the seat next to the driver, ‘cause we wanted to see. The driver said, “We’ll stop in an hour’s time, then you can change.” So I went with my friend in the next truck. After an hour we stopped in a beautiful wood. We were given chocolate & sandwiches & drinks & so by the drivers who had it all ready for us. Beautiful flowers & beginning of the pale green that comes out in the spring. So wonderful to sit there in freedom. Suddenly there were shots. The drivers said, “Leave everything, come quickly back in the truck." So we went in & I wanted to sit next to the driver. But my friend fought with me again, so I had to let her sit, because my friend Dit pulled me back to the other truck. Lo & behold, the truck I should have sat in, was shot. The woman & the driver were shot—by the Allies. They thought they were German. And I was saved again. 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre Edited from Selma van de Perre's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2020 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

September 6, 1944: Selma van de Perre is imprisoned in Ravensbrück for her part in the Dutch resistance: They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers. Same green-grey colour material. They even wore hats. We were marched to the main camp & put in tents. Selma was there under a non-Jewish false identity & called herself Margarete van der Kuit. No one knew that she was Jewish. It was a lice colony. Within a few weeks everybody was full of lice. We were taken in fives to the shower, made to strip, give up all your clothes. Then the doctor’s investigation. I can’t remember if he had gloves on. But he didn’t wash his hands at least. I was given a very thin blue-grey striped prison dress. That was all. And some wooden shoes. No underwear or anything. But in the barracks they gave me my jumper back. We each had a hollow flannel which we hung at the end of our bunk with a toothbrush & toothpaste in. When we woke up, it had disappeared. Stolen by other women. We learned later on that was quite a normal thing to do. In Ravensbrück, Selma was forced to work as a Siemens slave labourer: You had to solder very fine wire together. At the start I was so nervous I fainted. One evening I couldn’t get up from the loo. My tummy was completely out of order. We were given what they called ‘soup’: water with a few grass sprits in it & that was it. No wonder I was ill. So an SS came & started beating me with his belt, with all these iron things on it. So I fainted again. These two girls had to pick me up & hold me up while he was counting. Then they took me to the hospital barrack for 4 days. Then I went back to Siemens. One day we were told to stand outside the barrack, & they told us that the old women over 50 didn’t have to work anymore, & were to be given better food etc. They were taken to the Jugend camp in Uckermark. We later heard that they were gassed & killed. In October it got very cold. Someone said to me 'There's a Jewish woman who works in the textile barrack. She wants bread for her children. She’ll give you some warm clothes.” So I saved up the week’s sliced bread & went to see her. She gave me a man's long johns. They kept me warm the whole time I was in Ravensbrück. Fantastic. There were so many nationalities there. Polish, Slovaks, Czech, Dutch, French. But no more Jews in the Siemens barracks. They'd all been deported to Auschwitz by then. By then we slept in the Siemens barracks. Better conditions: only two in a bed. Three tiers mind you. But no dogs & no big SS fellows screaming away. Selma was liberated by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945. We were told to stand outside the Siemens barrack. We thought we’d get the same treatment as the old people a few months beforehand. You couldn’t flee because there were Germans on the side of you with dogs. Then we passed Uckermark, luckily & got to the big camp. We were very pleased in a way, but still scared because what’s going to happen! Every day we thought we’d be taken out because we knew they were killing women. You could smell it. The crematorium was going all the time. One day my Czech friend said 'You’re going to be freed Marga: you've got a Red Cross parcel.' So, we said, “Well we hope so.” I gave her a piece of bread, biscuits, & some sausage. She had been very good to me. We then stood outside. That was morning. Nothing came for a while. In the afternoon suddenly a little sportscar came. Out jumped a young Swede. He told us Count Bernadotte was coming with white buses to drive us to Sweden. But the buses didn’t come. We stood there the whole night. Suddenly military trucks came. We were told to jump in. A friend & I fought for the seat next to the driver, ‘cause we wanted to see. The driver said, “We’ll stop in an hour’s time, then you can change.” So I went with my friend in the next truck. After an hour we stopped in a beautiful wood. We were given chocolate & sandwiches & drinks & so by the drivers who had it all ready for us. Beautiful flowers & beginning of the pale green that comes out in the spring. So wonderful to sit there in freedom. Suddenly there were shots. The drivers said, “Leave everything, come quickly back in the truck." So we went in & I wanted to sit next to the driver. But my friend fought with me again, so I had to let her sit, because my friend Dit pulled me back to the other truck. Lo & behold, the truck I should have sat in, was shot. The woman & the driver were shot—by the Allies. They thought they were German. And I was saved again. 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Selma van de Perre Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Selma van de Perre's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2020 • Learn More → Selma van de Perre Encounter With Nazi Officials False Name Near Escape Ravensbrück Resistance Slave Labourer Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Germany See Locations Full Text September 6, 1944: Selma van de Perre is imprisoned in Ravensbrück for her part in the Dutch resistance: They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers. Same green-grey colour material. They even wore hats. We were marched to the main camp & put in tents. Selma was there under a non-Jewish false identity & called herself Margarete van der Kuit. No one knew that she was Jewish. It was a lice colony. Within a few weeks everybody was full of lice. We were taken in fives to the shower, made to strip, give up all your clothes. Then the doctor’s investigation. I can’t remember if he had gloves on. But he didn’t wash his hands at least. I was given a very thin blue-grey striped prison dress. That was all. And some wooden shoes. No underwear or anything. But in the barracks they gave me my jumper back. We each had a hollow flannel which we hung at the end of our bunk with a toothbrush & toothpaste in. When we woke up, it had disappeared. Stolen by other women. We learned later on that was quite a normal thing to do. In Ravensbrück, Selma was forced to work as a Siemens slave labourer: You had to solder very fine wire together. At the start I was so nervous I fainted. One evening I couldn’t get up from the loo. My tummy was completely out of order. We were given what they called ‘soup’: water with a few grass sprits in it & that was it. No wonder I was ill. So an SS came & started beating me with his belt, with all these iron things on it. So I fainted again. These two girls had to pick me up & hold me up while he was counting. Then they took me to the hospital barrack for 4 days. Then I went back to Siemens. One day we were told to stand outside the barrack, & they told us that the old women over 50 didn’t have to work anymore, & were to be given better food etc. They were taken to the Jugend camp in Uckermark. We later heard that they were gassed & killed. In October it got very cold. Someone said to me 'There's a Jewish woman who works in the textile barrack. She wants bread for her children. She’ll give you some warm clothes.” So I saved up the week’s sliced bread & went to see her. She gave me a man's long johns. They kept me warm the whole time I was in Ravensbrück. Fantastic. There were so many nationalities there. Polish, Slovaks, Czech, Dutch, French. But no more Jews in the Siemens barracks. They'd all been deported to Auschwitz by then. By then we slept in the Siemens barracks. Better conditions: only two in a bed. Three tiers mind you. But no dogs & no big SS fellows screaming away. Selma was liberated by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945. We were told to stand outside the Siemens barrack. We thought we’d get the same treatment as the old people a few months beforehand. You couldn’t flee because there were Germans on the side of you with dogs. Then we passed Uckermark, luckily & got to the big camp. We were very pleased in a way, but still scared because what’s going to happen! Every day we thought we’d be taken out because we knew they were killing women. You could smell it. The crematorium was going all the time. One day my Czech friend said 'You’re going to be freed Marga: you've got a Red Cross parcel.' So, we said, “Well we hope so.” I gave her a piece of bread, biscuits, & some sausage. She had been very good to me. We then stood outside. That was morning. Nothing came for a while. In the afternoon suddenly a little sportscar came. Out jumped a young Swede. He told us Count Bernadotte was coming with white buses to drive us to Sweden. But the buses didn’t come. We stood there the whole night. Suddenly military trucks came. We were told to jump in. A friend & I fought for the seat next to the driver, ‘cause we wanted to see. The driver said, “We’ll stop in an hour’s time, then you can change.” So I went with my friend in the next truck. After an hour we stopped in a beautiful wood. We were given chocolate & sandwiches & drinks & so by the drivers who had it all ready for us. Beautiful flowers & beginning of the pale green that comes out in the spring. So wonderful to sit there in freedom. Suddenly there were shots. The drivers said, “Leave everything, come quickly back in the truck." So we went in & I wanted to sit next to the driver. But my friend fought with me again, so I had to let her sit, because my friend Dit pulled me back to the other truck. Lo & behold, the truck I should have sat in, was shot. The woman & the driver were shot—by the Allies. They thought they were German. And I was saved again. 953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre Edited from Selma van de Perre's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2020 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

953: Slave Labour In Ravensbrück Selma van de Perre Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close September 6, 1944: Selma van de Perre is imprisoned in Ravensbrück for her part in the Dutch resistance: They transported us to Ravensbrück. Terrible. Screaming, shouting, dogs & whips. The dogs had the same clothes as the soldiers. Same green-grey colour material. They even wore hats. We were marched to the main camp & put in tents. Selma was there under a non-Jewish false identity & called herself Margarete van der Kuit. No one knew that she was Jewish. It was a lice colony. Within a few weeks everybody was full of lice. We were taken in fives to the shower, made to strip, give up all your clothes. Then the doctor’s investigation. I can’t remember if he had gloves on. But he didn’t wash his hands at least. I was given a very thin blue-grey striped prison dress. That was all. And some wooden shoes. No underwear or anything. But in the barracks they gave me my jumper back. We each had a hollow flannel which we hung at the end of our bunk with a toothbrush & toothpaste in. When we woke up, it had disappeared. Stolen by other women. We learned later on that was quite a normal thing to do. In Ravensbrück, Selma was forced to work as a Siemens slave labourer: You had to solder very fine wire together. At the start I was so nervous I fainted. One evening I couldn’t get up from the loo. My tummy was completely out of order. We were given what they called ‘soup’: water with a few grass sprits in it & that was it. No wonder I was ill. So an SS came & started beating me with his belt, with all these iron things on it. So I fainted again. These two girls had to pick me up & hold me up while he was counting. Then they took me to the hospital barrack for 4 days. Then I went back to Siemens. One day we were told to stand outside the barrack, & they told us that the old women over 50 didn’t have to work anymore, & were to be given better food etc. They were taken to the Jugend camp in Uckermark. We later heard that they were gassed & killed. In October it got very cold. Someone said to me 'There's a Jewish woman who works in the textile barrack. She wants bread for her children. She’ll give you some warm clothes.” So I saved up the week’s sliced bread & went to see her. She gave me a man's long johns. They kept me warm the whole time I was in Ravensbrück. Fantastic. There were so many nationalities there. Polish, Slovaks, Czech, Dutch, French. But no more Jews in the Siemens barracks. They'd all been deported to Auschwitz by then. By then we slept in the Siemens barracks. Better conditions: only two in a bed. Three tiers mind you. But no dogs & no big SS fellows screaming away. Selma was liberated by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945. We were told to stand outside the Siemens barrack. We thought we’d get the same treatment as the old people a few months beforehand. You couldn’t flee because there were Germans on the side of you with dogs. Then we passed Uckermark, luckily & got to the big camp. We were very pleased in a way, but still scared because what’s going to happen! Every day we thought we’d be taken out because we knew they were killing women. You could smell it. The crematorium was going all the time. One day my Czech friend said 'You’re going to be freed Marga: you've got a Red Cross parcel.' So, we said, “Well we hope so.” I gave her a piece of bread, biscuits, & some sausage. She had been very good to me. We then stood outside. That was morning. Nothing came for a while. In the afternoon suddenly a little sportscar came. Out jumped a young Swede. He told us Count Bernadotte was coming with white buses to drive us to Sweden. But the buses didn’t come. We stood there the whole night. Suddenly military trucks came. We were told to jump in. A friend & I fought for the seat next to the driver, ‘cause we wanted to see. The driver said, “We’ll stop in an hour’s time, then you can change.” So I went with my friend in the next truck. After an hour we stopped in a beautiful wood. We were given chocolate & sandwiches & drinks & so by the drivers who had it all ready for us. Beautiful flowers & beginning of the pale green that comes out in the spring. So wonderful to sit there in freedom. Suddenly there were shots. The drivers said, “Leave everything, come quickly back in the truck." So we went in & I wanted to sit next to the driver. But my friend fought with me again, so I had to let her sit, because my friend Dit pulled me back to the other truck. Lo & behold, the truck I should have sat in, was shot. The woman & the driver were shot—by the Allies. They thought they were German. And I was saved again. Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Selma van de Perre's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2020 • Learn More → Selma van de Perre Encounter With Nazi Officials False Name Near Escape Ravensbrück Resistance Slave Labourer Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Germany Text adapted & edited by Susanna Kleeman See Locations Facebook & Instagram Posts

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