FROM AUSCHWITZ TO AFRICA
YOU South Africa|8 June 2023
When her children were young Ella Blumenthal told them the scar on her arm was the result of a car accident. But this wasn't true. It was what remained of the tattoo shed been given by the Nazis. In this extract from her new memoir the 101-year-old shares her incredible story of survival
FROM AUSCHWITZ TO AFRICA

Soon they were given Czechoslovakia on a platter; they thought it would satisfy Adolf Hitler’s appetite. Still we said it can’t happen to us.

They crossed our border on the 1st of September 1939, marching towards Warsaw. Then everyone woke up! Warsaw stood up against them for three weeks. And then fell.

Right away there were announcements. All Jewish land was requisitioned. All Jewish bank accounts were frozen. All public gatherings were forbidden. Schools and synagogues were closed.

Every few days there was something new. A curfew was imposed. Food was rationed.

A few months before the end of 1940, there was a proclamation: all Jews were to move into a ghetto in Warsaw. But where do we go? There were only certain streets that were included in the ghetto.

We managed to rent a large room where we all lived together: my parents, two of my brothers and me. My sister Golda and her children got a place elsewhere.

My father ran a business that supplied tailors with everything from buttons to the cloth of a suit, but as his shop fell outside the ghetto limits, he had to close it. So, there was no work to go to every day. I was 19 and had already finished school.

Every morning when you got up and went out into the street, you could see corpses. They were put out during the night by their families who couldn’t even give them a funeral. They were picked up on carts. Sometimes the bodies were covered with newspaper held down by bricks; the bodies were naked underneath because the family needed the clothes they had been wearing.

Eventually, when there was no paper, they were lying naked. And they weren’t corpses; they were skeletons – so thin were they.

Esta historia es de la edición 8 June 2023 de YOU South Africa.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición 8 June 2023 de YOU South Africa.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE YOU SOUTH AFRICAVer todo
BALLON IN THE BAG
YOU South Africa

BALLON IN THE BAG

Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024
IT WAS ALL A LIE
YOU South Africa

IT WAS ALL A LIE

A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story

time-read
5 minutos  |
14 November 2024
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
YOU South Africa

'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'

After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country

time-read
10+ minutos  |
14 November 2024
AGREE TO DISAGREE
YOU South Africa

AGREE TO DISAGREE

Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024
PAUSE THE CLOCK
YOU South Africa

PAUSE THE CLOCK

Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down

time-read
5 minutos  |
14 November 2024
MPOOMY ON TOP
YOU South Africa

MPOOMY ON TOP

We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
YOU South Africa

MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME

Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024
MATT THE RECLUSE
YOU South Africa

MATT THE RECLUSE

A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024
A LEAP OF FAITH
YOU South Africa

A LEAP OF FAITH

After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love

time-read
5 minutos  |
14 November 2024
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
YOU South Africa

THEY'RE MY KIDS!

This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it

time-read
4 minutos  |
14 November 2024