Do not allow yourself another lesson to learn, Holocaust survivor warns

An Auschwitz survivor has warned “do not allow yourself another lesson to learn”, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation.

Susan Pollack, 94, asked why antisemitism has not yet been eradicated and said “it has the capacity to raise itself like a devil”.

Prejudice against Jews escalated during the early years of Ms Pollack’s life.

She was born in the village of Felsogod, Hungary, on September 9 1930.

Her family suffered extreme violence, and in 1944 Ms Pollack, her mother and brother were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was 13 years old.

Ms Pollack has spent decades recounting her life story through the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, including: “See as much as you can. The truth, just by looking at the bodies of those many, many in that barrack. And try to stop it, if possible.”

Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, she told the PA news agency that the Government must create a specific law against antisemitism to eradicate it.

There is currently no specific UK law prohibiting antisemitism, but such activity can be covered by general legislation on hate crime, online abuse and equalities.

Ms Pollack said antisemitism has not disappeared and “it’s no good” telling people “don’t get involved in this”.

She said: “We have to speak up, and trust that we have a Government that studied a little bit of history.”

The King is visiting Auschwitz on Holocaust Memorial Day, and Ms Pollack said: “I think it’s very important, very, very important, because all those long-held mischievous thoughts are dangerous.

“I think we need to speak up. Hopefully the Government should take very strong action now.”

Multiple police forces reported an increase in antisemitism in the UK after the Israel-Hamas war began.

Ms Pollack said it made her feel “fearful, fearful”, adding “the realisation is very strong in my mind to see antisemitism is a dangerous, a most dangerous occupation, and it seems to attract people – some, I don’t say all, but some people”.

Any form of hate “can create huge sufferings”, she added.

“I haven’t had personal experience (of an increase), but many people say that antisemitism in this country is still with us – and why? And why is that?”

She told PA: “I felt secure in Hungary for a very, very short time. But I mean, once I had been deprived of my parents, and I saw the violence and the killings – no.”

As a child, her father told her that Jews were accused of doing “some atrocious things” and the family must therefore show they are an “integrated part” of the community and nation.

Her football-loving brother was often beaten up, but when they complained the village council told them “pay no attention, they’re just thugs”.

Prejudice against Jews grew, as did separation in the village, despite there being hardly 10 Jewish people living there, Ms Pollack said.

The family business was forced to close and physical attacks increased.

Her uncle was murdered by a fascist in 1938, who spent less than two years in prison, HET said.

When Germany invaded Hungary in 1944, her father was told by the council to go to a sham meeting for Jewish fathers.

They arrived to find lorries waiting and were taken to a concentration camp.

Later that year Ms Pollack, her mother and brother were sent to a ghetto in Vac, and then on to Auschwitz-Birkenau in a cattle cart.

She said: “They said we’ll take you to a good place.

“There was a cattle truck… the floor, only women, because men had been taken away earlier.

“Two buckets, one for human soil and one for use for drinking water – as soon as the trains moved they all spilled immediately.

“And the babies, the babies died. These cattle trains didn’t stop anywhere, we could not go out, and we realised then we’re trapped – this is not going to be a place of normal situation.

“Finally it stopped, we were so relieved. The doors open, I remember being elated – oh we got somewhere, fresh air.

“But the fear overlapped our existence.”

A Hungarian speaker whispered to her: “Don’t say you’re younger than 15 years old.”

Ms Pollack did not understand but, when asked, told a Nazi officer: “I’m 15.”

Her fatigued mother was immediately murdered in the gas chambers and 13-year-old Ms Pollack was selected to work.

The Nazis shaved her hair, took her clothes, and almost daily the officers would select “who is to live, who is to die” by looking at their naked bodies.

“I became speechless, I couldn’t express myself, I couldn’t talk. I was frozen with fear,” she said.

After 10 weeks she was sent to work as a slave labourer in an armaments factory in Guben, Germany.

As the Allies advanced, she and other prisoners were forced on a death march to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

When she arrived Ms Pollack was shocked to meet a neighbour from her village.

“She said ‘are we going to survive? ‘I said just hold on a little bit longer, it won’t take too much time, and that was our clinging hope.”

On April 15 1945 the camp was liberated by the British Army.

People were dying around her, Ms Pollack said, adding: “I realised that this is the end of life, so I crawled, crawled outside, outside one of those barracks, and sit down to die.

“Suddenly a miracle happens, a miracle – I wasn’t thinking any more, I was a hopeless person – and somebody picked me up, my body, I remember, and placed me in a little lorry.”

Another lesson Ms Pollack wants to pass on is: “Survival at any time is the most valuable, valuable gift – life, the most valuable gift.”

After Holocaust Memorial Day she is going on holiday to Tenerife with her daughter.

She plans to lie in the sun with two books, The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings From History by Laurence Rees, and a dictionary.