Kestenberg Archive

LL was born in Uschovna, Czechoslovakia in 1927. Her father was a tailor, and a religious man, like the other Jewish families in the town. LL's mother died during childbirth when LL was four, and her father remarried, and had four more children. LL says that her step-mother wasn't good to her, and treated her like a maid. LL finished sixth grade, and also went to a seminary. When the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Ukrainians, and then the Hungarians, took over the town and the entire area. Her father was jailed for almost two years, convicted for allegedly wanting to burn the local church, and LL was left with her step-mother and brothers. At that time, the locals started to rob and abuse the local Jews and her father's store was taken by Hungarian soldiers. When her father was released and returned from jail, the Germans gathered all the Jews of the town, and eventually sent them all to ghetto Matisalka. The ghetto was crowded and there was no food. The family, except from the father, who disappeared, stayed there for a few months and then they were transported to Auschwitz by train (later on her father was also sent to Auschwitz). They arrived in Auschwitz after a seven day journey. LL was sent right (to work) and her step-mother (who was pregnant) and step-brothers were sent left (gas chambers). LL was without her family, and suffered from hunger. She doesn't remember how long she stayed there, but after a while she and some other women were transferred to Stutthof concentration camp. One of her assignments was to sort the belongings of the new arrival and she smuggled blankets, bread, clothes and other things she and her friends needed to survive. At the beginning of 1945, when the Russians were close, LL convinced one of her friends to run away from the camp. The Russian soldiers who found them, gave them medical care. ; After the war, LL found her father in Bucharest. They moved to Germany and in 1947 came to Israel. She got married, lived with her husband in Kibbutz Ayanot, and they had two sons. LL divorced after 13 years, and moved to New York. She often asks herself how she survived. She has good memories of her life before the war but suffered nightmares after the war. She was afraid that someone would hurt or kill her. She used to cry frequently. She feels that she missed out on her youth, and feels jealous of teenagers. She wanted to go to therapy, but never did.