Page 39 - Harnett Life Winter 2020

20s, when Nazis occupied her native Hungary late in World right and survived, at least for a time. Elderly people and chil-
War II. Judy’s husband, Mike, stood behind a podium across dren about 14 and younger were sent to the left and gassed to
the stage, adding historical and philosophical context to help death. Judy’s mother was pushed right along with a sister and
audience members understand one of the worst atrocities in four friends. Her mother was pushed left. As Judy read from
human history. her mother’s own writings, Klara Mermelstein described that
horrible moment: “My mother looked at me as we were sepa-
The horror began slowly, Judy said, when Jewish residents in rated. She did not know why we were separated, and her eyes
Hungary lost civil rights to operate a business or attend school. looked desperate. It was the last time I saw her.”
But things accelerated when they were forced to wear a yel-
low Star of David on their clothing to identify themselves as Life in Auschwitz was brutal for those who lived. Five people
Jewish — a Nazi policy that made it easier to round up those slept in a bed, usually on rags and straw, and her mother was
same residents just weeks later and force them into “ghettos,” fortunate to share hers with relatives and friends, who huddled
densely packed, walled-off portions of the city where Klara tightly together to stay warm. Prisoners in the camp were starv-
Mermelstein lived briefly with 11 people sharing one room ing; her mother, whose job was to peel potatoes, survived by
with a bathroom and kitchen. eating unserved scraps.

Despite the misery Jews were already suffering in Germany, Still, that was far better than what was happening in another
her family never expected the same thing to happen to them. building not far away. By her second day at Auschwitz, Judy’s
“Mom always felt, ‘I’m Hungarian. Nothing’s ever going to mother understood the atrocity taking place. “She could smell
happen to me,’” Judy said. “There was this denial.” the burning, and the burning was the flesh of people who did
not survive, the ones who went to the left,” Judy said. “But she
Things got even worse when Jews were herded from the ghetto didn’t tell anybody. She kept it to herself, because she didn’t
onto railroad cars for a long trip with no food or water. Nazis want to scare everybody.”
told everyone they were being resettled. They were really be-
ing sent to Auschwitz. Over the course of months, Judy’s mother survived forced la-
bor and packed train trips among concentration camps, until
As they entered the concentration camp in German-occupied one day the Red Cross showed up and announced that every-
Poland, healthy people who were able to work were sent to the one was free. Because Klara Mermelstein and her sister were

Judy Stevens speaks about her mother, who survived the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp,
during Central Carolina Community College’s sixth-annual Holocaust Remembrance held on Feb. 28 at the
Dennis A. Wicker Civic & Conference Center.
Harnett Life ~ Spring 2020 Page 39