It’s been 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi-operated concentration camp in Poland. More than one million people died there, most of them Jewish Poles. Esther Basch was one of the few survivors. She is now 91 and living in Prescott, where she visits local schools telling her story. She was even consulted about her experience by famed film director Steven Spielberg for the USC Shoah Foundation after he worked on his Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List. Esther spoke with KNAU’s Steve Shadley about her survival and her daughter Rachel helped fill in some of the details…
Esther Basch: “I was born in the Carpathian Mountains and in 1942 Germany took over and that was the end of the Jewish population. When the Germans came in first for two years we had to wear a Star of David, a yellow Star of David, which means when we would go down the street everybody would beat us up. My father was a Rabbi. He had a beard. They were pulling on his beard until blood was coming out until he finally decided to cut it off. I was taken first to the ghetto in my hometown and then six weeks later I was put on the train, actually a cattle car, towards Auschwitz. It took us about four or five days and we wound up in Auschwitz and I was separated right away from my parents. First my father went to the right, and I was still holding hands very tightly with my mom and then a couple came and by force separated me from my mom. And, I was 3 ½ months in Auschwitz, tortured, starved…and after 3 ½ months in Auschwitz, I was taken to a labor camp in Germany. I was working there for 9 ½ months in an ammunition factory…”
Esther’s daughter Rachel: “I just want to add the liberation. When the Americans came the Jews had been locked up for two weeks because the Nazis took off because the Americans were coming. But, when they saw the American soldiers all they saw was uniforms and they thought they had come to kill them so they huddled in the back of the camp. And, one of the soldiers who they found spoke Yiddish was able to tell them…no you’re free. You’re free…”
Esther Basch: “Yes, he was the one who shot open the gate and said you are free. They said go into town and take anything you want. Of course, I went into town, I didn’t want anything. But, I thought I’m going to find my home, my parents, but I found a big, big jar of honey and I licked it up with my fingers. By the time I got back to the camp…I was deathly ill. They took me to the infirmary and I was there for like four weeks. Well, I cannot forget the horror they put me through. But, I can forgive because if I don’t forgive, if I hold a grudge I only hurt myself. This is how I’ve lived to be almost 92…with positive thinking…”
This audio postcard featuring World War Two concentration camp survivor Esther Basch and her daughter Rachel was produced by KNAU’s Steve Shadley.