Tereza Wiesnerová

“We had to hand over our fur coats and jewellery. And when we handed over the jewellery, we got a ring made of steel with the inscription: The Slovak State gives thanks to you. Then, my mother asked our neighbours to hide some of our things, but I remember we didn’t get anything back. My sister also had a friend from school in Nitra, her father came from Bohemia, and they brought everything back to us. We also gave something to the mother of my older sister’s friend; there were some porcelain sets, but she said that the Russians had come and taken everything away. However, it didn’t matter. We were happy to be alive. I also remember the furniture which we had in our last flat. My father’s employee along with his family moved there. They were very surprised, because there was a sofa, couch, and when we were about to be driven away, my mother quickly stuck some money between the mattresses. Later, when my sister came and took it of the sofa, that madam was really surprised! Actually, she had no idea about it till that day.”

“We were taken to what was called a bath. We had to get completely naked and sit on the wooden stairs. You know, there were bedbugs that stung our buttocks. Then, still naked, we had to go up to Mengele. One of our acquaintances from Topoľčany advised us not to go one after another and not to address our mother as our mother. We did so and walked to Mengele, but anyway he pointed at our mother to go aside as she had underwent a surgery and had a scar. It was awful, mainly because we couldn’t say that it was our mother. We even couldn’t say goodbye, nothing. Our mother left us. And I was crying all the time, because I missed her a lot. Fortunately I was there with my sister. Then we got two slices of bread, the so-called dress and shoes. Well, as for the shoes, there was a big hole on the heel. We had to stand in a row and then we were transported to Bergen Belsen concentration camp. When we were standing and waiting there, I spotted my mother in the distance. Somebody gave her a red headscarf because we were bald and it was really cold. When I saw her, I stepped out from the line and I ran towards her.” “Weren’t you afraid?” “I wasn’t because I went towards my mother. We were hugging each other and crying. And then the chief of the transport came to me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid your mother will come, we will load her into the next car.’ Then I hugged her again and she said, ‘Pray for me.’ I will remember that moment forever.”