Stories CREMATORIA the largest shower place in hell

The Nazis told the victims: “you are only going to take a shower”.

After forced to take off their clothes & heads shaven, they went naked & bald, embarrassed on the way to death. No towels to cover the intimate parts, no need for towels- for most innocent people it was the last shower: Deadly Shower of Gas. The Nazis wanted to save gas and released enough so that people will start choking. Many Jews were half alive when their bodies were taken out; many people were burned alive. My mother told me: “we have arrived in Auschwitz in a dark night but there was light from the fire where they were burning people, there was also a strange smell…  Stepping out of the train cart, someone said: “you are going to be burned”, women cried: “we don’t want to die”. Only after, they took a few of us to see the shower, we went inside; we took off our clothes, and they shaved our heads. One day I saw a new group of frightened women crying, I said: “poor people they think they are going to die” someone said “ they are indeed going to die ” After working for a while as a clothing sorter with other young women, the Nazis told us: “your work is very important, as a reward, when the time comes you will get more gas, it will finish you quickly, so you will not suffer for too long…” We’ve seen the fire, we’ve lived with it, we knew our end will be the same, we just didn’t know when will be our time to die.”

Stories SELECTION

Upon arriving in Auschwitz the Nazis made the ‘Selection’.

My Mother told me: “after stepping down from the train, we were divided into two groups: my father Arie, my mother Leah, and my sisters Tzipi & Eti were sent to the left; I was sent with my brothers to the right. Later, they divided men from women; I saw my brothers once again in striped clothes and could hardly recognize them. I was told that my younger brother Moshe died but I never found out what happened to my older brother Eli” (my mother lived with the hope that maybe he survived too…).

The main selector, Josef Mengele- “the Angel of Death” was shouting: “Left!” “Right!” and those useless for work, too young, too old or sick, were sent to the gas chambers. Those who could be used for hard labor, age 14 and up, were chosen to live.  Mengele was also selecting prisoners to be used as experimental medical subjects; his favorite genetic experiments were on twins.  The S.S. and Mengele were shouting ‘Zwillingel’! (Twins!). When found, they cruelly removed them from their parents and were sent to the Twin Barracks

After the selection, prisoners placed in Auschwitz were tattooed a number on their forearm. My mother’s number was: 5874; she hated it and tried to get rid of it with no success; My father was proud that even though he was marked like an animal, he survived and continued with life as a proud, good man.

Stories TRANSPORT

The first trains carrying Jews arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in March 1942. Several trains arrived daily carrying Jews from almost every country in Europe.

On May 1944 Jewish people from Ghetto Mukachevo in Czechoslovakia were squeezed into a train that brought them to Auschwitz- Birkenau.

My mother Paula (Pessi) was on that train with her Father Arie, her mother Leah, her brothers Eli (19) and Moshe (16), her sisters Eti (12) and Tzipi (6) the Gelb family on their last  “trip” together

My mother told me: “They put everybody inside carts of a very long train; it was so crowded, many people together; that whole long trip you couldn’t move, if you were standing, you stayed standing all the way, if you were sitting it was impossible for you to stand up; we didn’t have anything to eat or drink on the train during that ride of maybe two days.  It was very hot inside and the most awful for me was to see the young children suffering. It broke my heart. Nobody thought they are going to die, they told us we are going to work; but even if someone would have told us we are going to be killed, we wouldn’t have believed it.”

Stories The GHETTO

My mother Paula, born 1926 In Czechoslovakia, lived in Podhorjany, a small village near Munkacs with a loving family, and friendly neighbors. There was 1 Synagogue, 50-60 families (8- 10 children each). The language was Ukraine, my mother’s school was Czech, after school she studied Hebrew and at home they spoke Yiddish.  My Mother told me: “when the Germans invaded, the regime changed from Czech to Hungarian. The cruel Zaandam & Iron Arrow Hungarians pulled and cut Jews’ beards.  We were not allowed to go out in the evenings & had to wear a Yellow Star. In 1941 they wanted to send us to Poland; fortunately our neighbors’ family paid for us to stay; we had 3 more years together. Those who left never came back… In April 1944, after Passover, all Jews of our town were gathered in the Synagogue and moved to Ghetto “Mukachevo” (Munkacs)-a brick factory building. We all lived, ate & slept together with no privacy in a large room for a month. With no cooking kitchen, we only got portions of food.  I remember a mentally ill man shouting, not understanding why all the people were there.  I was asked to work in the hospital, agreeing I was out of the room during the day taking care of a paralyzed man, sometimes he gave me food (I brought it to my family, telling them I’ve eaten). He asked me to come with him on the hospital train, but my mother wouldn’t let me, she wanted the family to stay together”. The sick, along with the nurses and doctors all went directly to the crematorium…

My name is Lea Weinberg, I was born and raised in Israel and now live and create in White Plains, NY. As a second generation to Holocaust survivors and an artist- sculptor, I feel it is my obligation to present a visual message preserving the stories I have personally heard. My childhood fairy tales were my mother’s nostalgic stories about her childhood, the pastoral life with her big family and friendly neighbors before the Second World War. Growing up, I realized that all my mother’s family members, the characters from her stories didn’t survive; yet, I felt I knew them from her vivid stories that brought them to life. My current Solo Exhibition is: MOTHER-SURVIVOR in memory of my mother and many others. My mother’s personal story is intertwined with the tragedy of Human History. My work is inspired by the compelling story of how my mother, 18 years old, found 8 photographs of her family while working as a Victims’ Clothes Sorter in Auschwitz – Birkenau. She succeeded in keeping the photos hidden inside a margarine sandwich until Liberation Day. Before she passed away, my mother gave the 8 photographs to Yad Vashem, Israel.