Diane Neuman
"To do your best. I went through a lot in Auschwitz, terrible things. I always thought I was used up at a young age. It seems like I had no youth. I don’t want you or anybody to go through what I went through. "
Name at birth
Terese Leibowitz
Date of birth
05/05/1923
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Uzhgorod, Czechoslovkia
Name of father, occupation
Onleib,
Engineer
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Rochel Bernstein,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and five children: I was oldest of four sisters (17 years old), Edith, Magda, Aletze (Alice) was 12 years old, and one brother Pinkus (7 years old)
How many in entire extended family?
25
Who survived the Holocaust?
Only me and my two sisters Edith Roth and Magda Feig
It was terrible, terrible! In 1943, my family was forced to move from our home to a ghetto in our village where we lived. We were there for about one month, where we had no food. My father used to sneak out of the ghetto to steal food. After the ghetto, we were taken to the train station, and then to Auschwitz.
My mother, brother Pinkus, and sister Aletza were immediately sent to the gas chambers when we arrived at Auschwitz. I am still not sure how my sisters and I found each other there. We could not recognize each other, because the first thing they did when we got there was to shave all of our hair off. I had beautiful long hair! They shaved our hair and everywhere else too, and a man did this. I had never been with a man before the war.
After about eight months in Auschwitz, we were transferred to a factory in the Sudeten where we worked night and day.
My father worked in a separate area and he was killed during the death march. We found out from a man who had been with him on the march. My father could not go on; he sat down, and was shot. His body was left there on the spot. I don’t even know what they did with the body; they probably just left it there.
I was beaten by a vicious woman, almost to death. She snuck up on me in the bathroom and hit me over and over. After a while, I could not hold it, and everything came out…everything. She left me there. I think the smell is what saved my life, because she could not stand the smell.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
Where did you go after being liberated?
We were liberated on my birthday in 1945. The Russians came, but they were animals. We were able to go back to our house, but we had to kick out another family that had taken over the house. We were constantly harassed by Russian soldiers who wanted to sleep with us, and eventually we were forced to move out.
When did you come to the United States?
In 1949, after marrying my husband who was from a neighboring town, we moved to the United States.
Where did you settle?
Bronx, New York
Occupation after the war
Seamstress for twenty years for Alvin's
When and where were you married?
1949 in Podmokle, Czechoslovakia
Spouse
Mike Neuman,
Tailor
Children
Milt, owns men’s clothing store
What do you think helped you to survive?
My sisters and I stayed together always. I think we did not have any “brains” to know what was happening to us. We would say to one, you go first, and if you don’t make it we will go the other way. My sister would hide me in a trough and cover me so that they would not find me and send me back to Auschwitz.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
To do your best. I went through a lot in Auschwitz, terrible things. I always thought I was used up at a young age. It seems like I had no youth. I don’t want you or anybody to go through what I went through.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
10/23/2013
Experiences
Survivor's map
