Twin Holocaust survivors describe arriving at Auschwitz

Identical twin sisters Iudit Barnea and Lia Huber (nées Tchengar) were born in 1937 in the town of Şimleul Silvaniei (Szilagysomlyo), Transylvania. In 1940, Transylvania was annexed to Hungary, and in June 1942 their father Zvi was taken to a forced labor unit on the Russian front.

With the German conquest of Hungary in March 1944, the familys property and belongings were confiscated, and they were forced to wear a yellow star. In May 1944 Iudit, Lia and their mother, Miriam-Rachel, were interned in a ghetto, and the following month they were deported to Auschwitz, along with many other members of their family.

At Auschwitz, Iudit and Lia suffered the infamous medical experiments of Josef Mengele. The twins always stayed close together. Every night, their mother would sneak into their block and give them her meager portion of bread. She would also take them outside, in all weathers, to wash them and comb their hair, and thus preventing them from getting infested by lice and being doomed to the gas chambers. One day, as Mengele was experimenting on the girls, Miriam-Rachel burst into the shack and begged him to stop. In response, she was injected with a concoction that nearly killed her, and caused her permanent deafness.

In January 1945 the girls and their mother were liberated by the Red Army. They returned to Şimleul Silvaniei, and in August 1945 they were reunited with their father, who had survived many camps. In 1960 the family immigrated to Israel. Both girls married: Lia and her husband Jean have two children and seven grandchildren; Iudit and Moshe have three children and five grandchildren.
For more information: http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2009/torchlighters_barnea_and_hub...
Or in Hebrew: http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/he/remembrance/2009/torchlighters_barnea_and_hub...

Category:

Education

Tags:

• yad
• vashem
• yom
• hashoah
• holocaust
• survivor
• testimony
• shoah
• auschwitz
• hungary
• transylvania
• משפט אייכמן
• גדעון הואזנר

[shiz1246]

I'm so glad they had (and still have) each other and were able to find happiness in life

[tomerb108]

as jewish israeli i am very proud to see comments like yours.it shows that there are good people in this world too.

every day i think of my own grandparents who didnt survive Suffocated murderd and Abused in a living hell.

my god let them rest in peace

[Haley24x7]

truely amazing :)

[zitalee2]

i think being a jew in this day and age gives you a whole new reason to appreciate life. i know once i learned that my grandma immigrated to the US from Hungary in 1938 the first thing i thought was "That was close!" XD. My Grandpa's brother was also experimented on, and they were both sent to a labor camp.

[iheartreading123456h]

@tomerb108 Your comment made me cry! Your grandparents must have been very brave to even live for a while in that Hell of a camp. God bless them. But they are happy now. And to think people say the Holocaust never exsisted; they are very ignorant.

[theoriginalredpanda]

What beautiful ladies! :D They look so good for their age especially from surviving the holocaust. Thank you Jesus for letting them have children! And twins too! <3

[YurrahAlHadi]

i started tearing up at the end when they said they had children.

[TheatricalRemote]

awesome , so glad they made it , and had families

[SASHYgrl]

we are doing like... the holocaust for school... this is so sad :( i just wish this NEVER happens again !! its insain

[dannydannyl]

its a shame their isn't a hell for the senior Nazi officers to go to.

[Karlyle96]

we should be thankful that we are here now! and we didnt live that tragedy

[wildskinny]

everytime when i hear someone about holocaust who survived and live to tell the story should be a true hero thank you to soldiers who saved these people and thank you germany civilians trying ur best to save any people as u can. all u kids think ur tough ur nothing the tough kids r the one who survived the holocaust