Rosa Grunfeld
"Always have faith and go on. If you do not have faith, you will be lost forever. People should always remember what we went through because there are too many people who deny Hitler and the Holocaust. It is a miracle anyone survived."
Name at birth
Ruse Wachtenheim
Date of birth
12/07/1924
Where did you grow up?
Czechoslovakia
Name of father, occupation
Wolf Wachtenheim
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Dora Wachtenheim
In 1944, one week after Pesach, I was taken by train to the Mukachevo ghetto. I was in the ghetto for four weeks. From the Mukachevo ghetto I was taken to Auschwitz. I arrived on May 18, 1944. I lied about my age and said I was two years older than I really was. After the selection I never saw my parents again.
After one week I was moved to Plaszow in Poland. Plaszow used to be a ghetto but by the time I arrived it was a concentration camp. I was there for three months. I was sent back to Auschwitz and I was given the number #82207. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, I was sent to Bergen Belson. I remained there for a couple months.
I was taken to Marklingberg, a labor camp in Germany. I was there till April/May of 1945. There was a girl helping the Nazis who pushed me out of line so I wouldn’t be selected by the Nazis. If it wasn’t for this girl, I would have been killed.
I was taken on the death march for 16 days and 16 nights they had marched us to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. Two weeks later we were liberated on May 8, 1945.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
What do you think helped you to survive?
Cried and prayed a lot. Luck and divine intervention, I do not know.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Always have faith and go on. If you do not have faith, you will be lost forever.
People should always remember what we went through because there are too many people who deny Hitler and the Holocaust.
It is a miracle anyone survived.
Interview date:
08/09/2000
