Introduction. Anna gross was born into a jewish family on april 20 1926 in rock show transylvania, a part of romania. Anna celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday. [applause] the aero on this map points to rock shop. These photos taken in 1919 show her parents, anna seal point. She was in Wine Merchant of a Lonely Church for anna and her five sisters. She had the hungarian rule. They became subject to antisemitic laws. Under the new laws, her vineyard was confiscated and the hungarian labor service. This photo shows hannah and her sisters. Margaret marcus daughter suzanne, violet, anna and giselle. 1944, nazi germany occupied hungary. Hungarian officials agreed to turn over hundreds of thousands of hungarian jews to the germans. Anna, her sisters, and her mother were placed into the ghetto indicated by the circle on this map. Then, they were deported to auschwitz. Auschwitz is indicated by a blue arrow on this map. Selected annaies and three of her sisters for forced labor while the Center Mother and two other sisters to the gas chamber. In june of 1944, anna and her remaining Three Sisters were sent to the concentration can indicated here with a red arrow. Later, they were transferred to kraus, a suburb. In february 1945, the ss had evacuated most of the prisoners including her Three Sisters, marching them on foot. Fromoviets liberated them march 11, 1945. Anna was left behind with other injured prisoners because she had previously broken her leg. Troopsh 23, 1945, soviet liberated 600 prisoners including anna. She later reunited with her sisters and found out that her sister elizabeth had been shot during the march. We disclosed this photograph in 1946. She would stay in romania for immigrating to the United States in 1964. Anna, together with her husband and two young sons were allowed after much difficulty to leave romania and begin life in the United States. They settled in new york where emery went to new york as a fabric cutter in the garden district. She found work as a seamstress at a clothing factory. She was working with fellow Holocaust Survivors and refugees. Anna worked at the same place for the next 27 years, driving 2. 5 hours to and from work each day. After finishing high school, their two sons attended the on to haveand went successful careers and are now retired. Alex was in attorney of the u. S. Patent office. Andrew was a geologist for the government. Anna has four grandchildren and fiveyearold greatgrandson. After the retirement, they moved to the washington, d. C. Area 2003. She suffered a stroke in 1999. And a care reform until he passed away in 2009. She was also the caregiver for one of her sisters prior to her death, and her sisters husband. She now volunteered to this museums visitor services. It went from 10 00 a. M. Until 2 00 p. M. She has spoken about her holocaust experience to children. She recently spoke to 500 students at a high school in west virginia. Her son alex and his wife carla and in his niece are still there today. Suzanne also volunteered at the museum. With that, i would like to ask you to join me in welcoming our first person, mrs. Anna grosz. [applause] thank you so much for being able to today. Would have so much for you to share it does, we really have so much so little time. You were 13 and world war ii when world war ii began with germanys invasion of poland. Before we turn to all that happened to you and your family during the war, lets start first with you talking about your family, your community and you and yours before the war began. Anna yes, hello. Thank you for coming to listen to my story. I have to tell you that will made the mistake, i am not mighty because i turned the line to a 60. Im 60 not 90. The nine into a six. I have time to tell my story. Take us in try to from that. Allpeak for the family and the jewish people. It is unbelievable. Pain and the humiliation. Sometimes feari as normal. War, we had a nice family life. My father was a Wine Merchant. I have five sisters. We had six girls. All the girls went to high school. The younger girls were in school. Old when the years americans occupied transylvania. Knew that because that is where they make the horror movies. From transylvania. And, the first thing that they did was stop the jewish people from being able to go to high school. That is the first event for me. I cannot go to high school. That couple ofask you a questions before we go there, if you do not mind. I hope that later you will talk about what the loss of education your father, but was a decorated soldier in the first world war. Anna yes, he was. In the first world war, he was an hungry. Because the germans lost the war then, in the first world war, it became romania. Happened in the second world war. They gave this back to the hungarians. That is how we became im gary ands again. My father married my mother in romania. So, she remains in romania. One more question. You told me that your parents, both your mother and father were very respected members of the community. Will you tell us about that . Would you tell us a little bit more about them . Yes. My father was a very correct man, everyone who bought the wine from him, they knew he would deliver it 100 what he sold. Parents, i had no school i had my parents and my very strict grandmother, who were very strict with us. They taught us manners and discipline. So, when she died, i was not so sorry for her because i did not like what she wanted me to do. [laughter] anna let me go back to the family life that we had. Lived in peace. Everybody had a job. My older sister is in school. We had a little business at home, a textile store. Withped out my father ventures and arranging for workers and everything. , we did not know what happened in the world. We had two stations on the radio. We did not what happened we did not know what happened in the world. Nothing about the war. Only when they occupied transylvania. And that changed everything. Food, offices, everything in hungarian from romanian. A strong accent there. They took away the license from the store. Out did not let jews without the yellow star. Not have nonjewish help. Gowere not allowed even to through the street without that yellow star. On may 4, transylvania was occupied the fourth of march, 1940. Bill 1940. Anna 1940. Last44, hungary was the country the germans occupied in the whole of europe. So, when they did all of the things to us that they they said, us out i am what i am, but i am not a jew. We were supposed to be humiliated. That was even worse than the suffering, the humiliation. Aryans did the hunk all of these terrible things to you, they took away your Family Business anna they took away everything. Bill you have a lot of mouths to feed. How did your family take care of father. We had flour, we had bread. We had the brandy machine also. We sold that. It was enough even to help other people. 4, andcame the day, may family by faly, they took all they said we could take food with us for four weeks. Bill do you mind if i go back and ask you questions . Anna sure. Fatherefore that, your was conscripted into one of the hungarian labor battalions. Anna yes. Bill tell us about that. Anna one of the worst things, forced labor, all of the young men from 18 to 45 or so. , andtook all of the men remained there the children and the old people with the young, forcedy took them to , and also,e country i think in other parts of hungary. And they worked so hard and they tortured them. I dont know. I still dont have the answer for that. If they wanted to kill us because we were the enemy, the jewish people, why did they have to torture us before that . That before the killing . Thereone example were two jewish people there that were forced labor. A soldier who was the guard for are said, you say you. Tinking jews the man said, why should i say that . The man said, as i told you so. Though you say that you are, i am going to eat you. Beate i am going to you. So, he said to the other people, you say also that you are a stinky jew. That . D, why should i say i am a college professor. If you do not say that, i am notg to beat you. He did say that. He started to beat him until he was half dead. Then he said, i am a stinky jew. So, this is a similar humiliation that happened, of which i cant say all of them, but it happened. Can we go back yes, you were going to tell us about your father. They took him away. You never saw him again. Translatorther was a for a while, from german to hunt gary and hungarian. Postcard from budapest. We never heard after that of him , what happened to him, we did not know what happened. Were in the whole little town where lived 50 jewish people, jewish families. They took us to see that and we stayed there for about two or three days, and in that synagogue, the children and the old people sleeping on the floor, it was terrible. And we did not know why and what was going to happen after that. They put us in carriages. They had to carry us about 37 kilometers from our homes. Only jewish people who lived there, they took the houses from to live there. Le they did not stay too long. Then they said, take food for four days with you. And we still did not know what happened. Us because it to came only that we did not know what happened before in the war. So, in the ghetto, we stayed there for about sleeping on the floor, children, mostly children and old women. The men were not there. Days, they took i dont know how many people. They took them to the place train station. There. T them then to our family, i was the 92nd. We did not know, where is my mother, where is my sister, because they pushed us in. To go out, they did a dance. From time to time, they would it. To empty the children cried. The old men prayed. , why didhem cursed this happen to us . Tried to take one of things from the station. , it is that one traveling for four days, and after that, they let us out. That was not out the most terrible day in my life. They let us out at night. We were all dizzy and did not know what happened to us. Barking,t there, dogs lots of german soldiers. Place took us to a and the music played. Jewish music players. Chaos, to make it more supportive. They took us and a german officer came with a stick. My olderr had , and there came a man to he said, is that your baby . And she said no. He said, give it to your mother. Because of they take away a baby from the mother, they would try to cry. ,o, if she would not give it then she would go in the left side. Have adnt even difference, the one who lives in the one who dies. So, my mother, my older sister, the baby, and my younger sister 14 years old were taken to one side. My older sister, 25, i was 16, another side. , andhey took us in a room first of all we have to take off our clothes. And then sit in a chair. And they hairtook us an cut off our , anywhere we have hair. Felt,t know what i because i dont think i felt anything because i was so tired from the four days traveling in that train. What happened to me, it happened. So, all the four of my sisters are taken in another room where we were disinfected with some dust. A grayer that, we got dress with a number on the sleeve, because they did not have time to tattoo us like other people that had been because we were the last people that were occupied. Me, anna, because there were so many coming in from hungary, they just did not have the time to tattoo you. Anna yes. Because there were so many. The last one, the last country was hungary. , the war was over already, but they still put the jewish people in trains and deported to auschwitz. That is what hungary did. They were already eliminated some place because it was 1944. I and 45, it was over, right . So, to usher its, yes to auschwitz, yes. And she said,e you were chosen. She was for four years already in the concentration camp. And we asked her, what is happening to us . Thathe said, you see smoke . There are your parents. It was very close to auschwitzs block, to the crematorium. We said, she is crazy. How to believe that they killed there and the crematorium . They said that she is a bad person, thats all. , puttook us into auschwitz us in the back where there was no covering something for us. Every day, the same infants. They counted us, in the morning and at night. And the food was terrible, terrible. Other greensd some ofked and a little piece margarine in the morning and a very small piece of bread. In the line, stay and always then we stayed in the line at night, and in the people whoey chose was very skinny, who was very fat. They were taken away and you never heard from them again. People who were strong looking for them but they always did that selection. All the time that we were there. , and we were so happy for our sisters and the other girls from the town , alley chose us for work or four of us. Hide elizabeth because she was skinny and smaller. So, they chose us for work. Looked fit to work, thats what they said. To where we stayed day, and by the train they took us there, and we saw the sun and the nature. Oh, we thought, what a nice , that they presented us to go to work. Arrived, they did again the selection. We were not all good for work, but the four of us did remain there, the sisters. Bill anna, i want to jump in for just a minute. In addition, you would line up right in a row, and besides you and your Three Sisters, there was a fifth woman who stayed with you throughout. Had to sit five in a row, so we had one person there who had nobody there, no sisters, nobody. She is still alive, 94 years old. Has bill dementia. Anna the dementia, yes. Bill they took you to a brandnew camp. Anna yes. They took us, because the four of us a big farm. The place was not ready yet to work. They had us in a terrible hut. The sun was burning. Shortsleeve dress and a short dress. We had to go did i say it right . All along we had to do that. Some girls put paper on the dress to cover it, and on the paper there was cement. Off, it tookk it off skin. And what did they do . They sent them back because they could not work, and they brought new people instead of them. Of course, we never heard of that camp had another crematorium. It wasnna, you told me always a hundred women. If some were ill, they would send them back and you have the same numbers. 800. Then you were forced to do exceptionally hard labor. Tell us about that. Airport, to do from that big bill you were forced to build an airfield . Anna yes. They forced us to work on the farm. It was carrots, beets mostly, and a few potatoes. We were told we could not take from there to eat because we are going to be punished for that, if you do that. Becauseere very hungry the first day we arrived there was no food. Water was rusty, so we could not drink or eat, and some people still took a caret and aided a carrot and ate it or a potato. But the number was here on the sleeves. The guard saw that. Then took the number. Then it night when we went home from work, the guard gave it there were two women. Least 250ey were at that is a fair job, to do the punishment. So, on the first night, the guard gave the number because the girls took the food. And the punishment was like that. She had to bend and the two devils came them,ot know how to call and they got 25 lashes on the back and then they had to report for work, no matter how bad they felt. That was the first day. So the work started. And every day we had to fill those cars. So just to be sure we all understand, you were filling train cars full of sand, is that correct . Anna it was not full of sand. For example, my sister could not work as hard. And that means that we had to work harder at that. I dont know how to say that in english. It looks like this somehow. That doesnt matter. Bill and the sand was then used to make anna yes, the pavement. Bill to make the pavement. And they would build the hanger, to load the airplanes at night. So that is what happened. We had to work for very little food. We all lost weight. That is what we did all summer. Then we had a guard with us, we had many guards with us, but one we had from romania and he was a very nice guy. He never gave a number to the german woman who was his girlfriend. He never gave it. Guards gave the number and almost every day we had someone get punished. We had to stay and see the punishment like this. Hands up. All of the people were inside and out and i dont know, i i dont know. That was a sadistic thing to do. I dont know why i repeat again, why did they have to torture us before they kill us . I dont know that. Many things i do not know. To cut my, i have story short. It came to christmas time. And they wanted us to entertain them. So they provided a piano, violin, and there were many talented people, opera singers, and they said everyone should go who has a talent. I left out something. Those romanian soldiers somehow regretted but he had to go in the german army. He liked me to sing for him romanian songs, ballads and every time he was with us, he wanted me to sing for him. At that time i had a very pretty voice, inherited from my mother. So christmas came and all the people were there and presented what they do, and i was sitting in the top of a big bed and i was just watching. And then the romanian soldier came to me and said, why did nt you come . I wanted you to sing in romanian also. And i said, i dont think that i have such a talent to go there. But he said, i want you to come. He led me to go down from that bed, and i fall and i broke my leg. Now with the smallest sickness, they sent you back because they needed other people who was able to work. If you were sick for two days, they sent you back. Now i thought, this is my end. Because i broke my leg. What can they do . So my sister begged this officer, he was a soldier, i think, do not send me back to and he somehow felt guilty because he wanted me to go and sing, and the one who decided to send back people, it was his girlfriend, the big woman who did the punishment. So it was a miracle that they put my leg in cast. Never happened, never heard any miracle like this. So they put my leg in cast in the morning and my leg became like this, swollen. They had to take it off and put another cast. No injection or put me to sleep or something. I survived. I dont know. A human being can survive everything. I think his own death, also. I think i am never going to die. I am going to survive my death, too. [laughter] so, after anna, after you broke your leg and they put this cast on you, it wasnt long until they emptied the camp. Anna three weeks after that started, they took the people from all camps and the crematorium could not destroy them. The war was very shortly at an end. So all the people had to march away from the camp and when the time came that our camp had to leave, i couldnt walk. So they took off my shoes because other 26 people were chosen who could not march. And a few guards and the people who cook to their because other camps came, others, and stay there for a night, and after that, they marched to our camp. It was the time to march and i was not able to march like the other 26 people. Bill you were left behind . Anna i was left behind, taken off my shoes, because i dont need the shoes and the other people are going to be killed there. I did