Margit Schwartz
"You have to be a Jew and say never again."
Name at birth
Margit Gluck
Date of birth
10/16/1923
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Kantorjanosi, Hungary
Name of father, occupation
Luke Ferenc Gluck,
Meat seller, butcher
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Edith Schwartz,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and seven children: two brothers, Joseph, Michael, and myself, survived. Three sisters and one brother did not survive.
How many in entire extended family?
My mother was an only child. My father’s family came to the United States before the war. Some went to France and did not survive. There are still cousins in the United States on my father’s side.
Who survived the Holocaust?
Two brothers, Joseph and Michael, and me
When I was 18 or 19, I went to Budapest with a friend. I was a seamstress and made uniforms for the Hungarian army believing this would keep us safe. We had to wear the yellow star.
The Nazis came in 1944 and all Jews had to report. One day my friend and I went to go to work and a soldier caught us. They took us by truck to Germany. We went to work at a brick factory and made a life there.
In May 1944, we were taken to Auschwitz. I was strong and always wanted to live. I was in Auschwitz during the high holidays.
I was then taken to Bergen-Belsen where we slept on the floor. After that we went to Umerlusz, women’s work camp near Hamburg, Germany. We were treated well there with food and beds. It was clean and good. No one got sick there.
The Nazis then took us back to Bergen-Belsen which was terrible. They made us take the dead people who died there and put them in big piles.
In April, 1945, the British soldiers came and said everyone could go home.
I went home in July. I didn’t want to go back to my city but I saw in the newspaper that my brother Joseph had returned home so I went home too.
I later married my husband in Hungary and we had one daughter, Agnes.
I always told myself I would live; I wouldn't give in to the Germans. Mengele pointed to me once, but then he was distracted by someone else and my friend grabbed me and we ran away.
After returning to Kantorjanosi, I came directly to United States. My husband was a fitter at Hughes & Hatcher, a men’s clothing store in Detroit, I worked there too.
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
Occupation after the war
Seamstress
Children
We had one daughter, Agnes. My daughter worked at the Oak Park, Michigan, City Hall for many years.
Grandchildren
Two: Renee and Jason and One Great grandchild
What do you think helped you to survive?
I wanted to live.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
You have to be a Jew and say never again.
Interviewer:
Charles Domstein
Interview date:
09/25/2013
Experiences
Survivor's map
