In 1945, 70 years ago, allied forces liberated nazi concentration camps. For the next several weeks here on American History tv, we hear holocaust stories from those who lived them. These interviews are part of the oral History Collection at the United StatesHolocaust Memorial museum in washington, d. C. Up next, mayer adler talks about being deported to auschwitz, it with his family. Their separation, and his later transfer to a labor concentration camp. He remembers liberation and returning to his childhood home where he searched unsuccessfully for any of his immediate relatives. This oral history is almost 90 minutes. Tell me where you were born and when . Adler czechoslovakia, october 6, 1929. I wonder if you would tell me something about your family and your life before the war. Adler we were what i would describe as a typical jewish family in a small town. I had two younger brothers, and my parents. A lot of aunts and uncles and cousins. Just as i said, a normal kind of orthodox judaism, every friday for example sort of the world stopped. Everyone came home. And we went to Services Friday afternoon, or friday evening rather. Saturday was very peaceful. No labor, no money. None. No commerce of any kind. What did your father do . Adler he was a merchant. He was doing several things. We had a lumber business. And farming and things of that sort. Basically thats what he was really doing. Do have many recollections of that period . Adler mostly the hardships, and also as things were getting tougher, when i remember i guess it was a world depression at the time. There was a lot of famine and hunger during that period. The hardships they came with the war, i remember. I remember seeing the planes going over our town when they were attacking poland when the war started, i believe. And the hardships that once we were occupied. Can you tell us something about that with the detail of your first introduction to the war . The experiences you had . Adler im not sure what i was, but one time, we were taken over to czechoslovakia as it was taken over by germany. We were given to hungary. So we became part of hungary. And i seem to remember that we had to reestablish citizenship. And that took quite a bit of effort and money. To become hungarian citizens. I am not sure, that might have been 1940. Do you remember when the war started . You say you heard of the planes heard the planes. Adler i remember seeing planes going over to poland. We saw a sky full of planes going over us. The war wasnt in 1939. That had very little effect in concern for the world, i was too young to make much difference. But i remember that scene. Leaflets used to drop every so often. But then we were taken over by hungary and we became hungarian citizens. Life seemed to go on with some difficulty, almost normal. But at one time soon after jewish kids could not go to public school. I could go to Parochial School and public school. My father used to have to pay hired somebody to give a private lessons. Thats what i remember. Go ahead. Tell us what happened as time went on. Adler well, it just seems to have become more difficult as it went along. Your rights were taken away, jews could not have any businesses. At some level, i remember that i had to work, we had the lumber business and there were ways to bring lumber down from the mountain. But i was working at that. There was a lumber mill. And in fact my cousin ran the lumber mill. But this wasnt the one there. There was a lot of lumber, that was the Major Business there. Was transporting lumber from the mountains to the lumber mill and chopping it up and making lumber out of it and shipping it off. It was a rural area. There were no public transportation, i mean there was no train service. No buses. Those are some of the things that i remember. Then things began to close in and get more difficult . Adler it was getting more difficult, jews were being beaten on by hungarian police. But really, that is what i a lot of that is foggy to me. How about your own family . What were the impact of the events on your father and mother and brothers and you . Adler my brothers were quite young. Not that i was an old man. And there was a twoyear difference between each of us. So but the family was close, during times of trouble, you seem to get closer. And also we had in my hometown, we had lets see, one uncle, two we had two uncles living in town. Some of them were living in surrounding towns. We had a bunch of cousins. The community was quite close to begin with. What happened, everybody was affected by it. You were able to live in the same place . Adler we lived in the same home until the end really. We lived in our own. Things were getting tougher. We had to spend whatever money we had i think to buy off officials and i remember the thing that it was very difficult, establishing for some reason we had to establish on gary and hungarian citizenship. I seem to remember that took a lot of money. Where folks scared were your folks scared . Was there apprehension . Adler there was some talk we were going to be deported. We didnt know what it was all about. We have heard there were some things going on in poland, they were killing people. Those were isolated, nobody really believe them. But for some reason, we were not deported. The whole town, there were several towns, we were not the only one, were left intact. Did you see the nazis . Adler i did not see any nazis until im not sure if i saw them before auschwitz. The hungarians were just as bad. Were there instances of hungarians beating people . Adler i remember one guy they arrested for trumped up charges. In all fairness, we were shielded from a lot of it. We were in a small town off the beaten track. It wasnt coming through daily it wasnt the kind of thing you would see daily. How long did that state of affairs last . How long until things changed materially . Adler on and off. There were problems coming release the anticipation. But things were getting worse as we went along. However in perhaps the end of 43, and certainly the beginning of 44, thats when things were getting bad. Going from bad to worse. Tell us about that. Adler we sort of we knew we were going to be deported. It was a question of trying to prepare yourself for that deportation. To our knowledge from what we recall we thought we were going to go as a family to a camp. And be used as labor camps. To labor, physical labor. To do labor, physical labor. We had family gatherings and meetings about that as to how we should handle that, how we could handle it. And also you bake and you prepared. My mother made all kinds of things, including small pillows we could take with us so we would have it whatever we should carry, if we could have a new home. I remember one of the discussions my mother used to complain to me that im not preparing for whatever were going to be deported. I said dont worry about it, i do not need pillows. I can sleep on the floor and my arm will be the pillow. Did not go over too well because as i said they were baking cookies that will last a lifetime, those kind of things. Those are the things that i remember. Just preparing for that day. And having meetings as to what we could do about it. There didnt seem to be much we can do about it. When the day came, what happened . Adler several thing happened before the day came. Because it was getting closer, when we finally realized what was happening and when, i was becoming more and more vocal in the family saying this seems stupid to sit here and wait to be arrested and taken somewhere. My father used to say that he really doesnt know what we could do, however he felt that we would be better off as a family. At least this way we can help each other and it seems, it would make a lot more sense. I just didnt want to buy it. It just seemed i like the idea of being a family, but i didnt like being picked up and hauled off. We had several discussions on the subject. And, you know, it might have taken a period of two or three weeks and wed finally realize d it was going to happen and it was pinned down as to when it was going to happen. I have just been pushing for that. I was going to go to russia. My father never said no, but he didnt say yes. And then when we finally the day before, we knew we were going to be picked up by tomorrow. The announcement i think was made that tomorrow, you will have to be home because they are going to come and take us. Early that morning, i decided in fact i have told my family that im going to go. I had decided i was going to just take off. Very early that morning, i got up and left town and started to go to where i thought was going to be russia. My kid brother said he would come with me. So we went and i went out of town in the direction towards the Russian Troops i thought. For russia. And as soon as i got up town some gentile we used to know met me and told us that my father had paid him to take us in the right direction, at least part way so we wouldnt end up german territory. So we went into the mountains and hid out for several days. We had heard what had happened. We were running into because we met several other people who ran away during the turmoil and the chaos when they pick people up. So we ran into several other people in the mountains and we sort of looked up hooked up together. Two days later we met my father and my brother. Who also took off at the last minute. We hit out for about 2, 2 and half weeks. We were just hiding, kept on staying in touch with the local areas. Somebody used to sneak in a t night to pick up whatever information we could get. At the end of two weeks, the germans had issued an order saying that anybody who was hiding, and was part of the family, in other words ofif they had part of the family in custody and the ones who were missing, if they didnt surrender within 48 hours, theyre going to kill the ones they had. So that we had surrendered. It was your mother . Adler my mother and my brother, so we surrendered and they did not do anything to us, they took us to the ghetto and we were there for about six weeks in the ghetto. Which was in a town. After several weeks, they had shipped people out, which turned out to be auschwitz. What town was the ghetto in . Adler it was called izza. Izza . Adler i am not sure if it was izza or iza. What was it like there . Adler it was a small town, a farming town really. It was very close to a big city a larger city. We were there more in barns, we lived several families in just a plain house we still live in because that was the kind of floors, thats where we lived. Everyones on top of each other no privacy, there was no room. It was just like a barn. I imagine there were houses, but i do not remember seeing houses. Towards the end, as they shipped people out, they kept making the ghetto smaller. We were the last transport finally shipped out of there to auschwitz. Were the nazis doing things to people, killing people . In the ghetto . Adler no, i didnt see any of that. They kept things pretty much hidden. I know they shot one person before we were shipped out because he had hidden we used to hide the women were busy sewing and baking and cooking, whatever. And people were hiding money and gold. They dug out the heels of shoes and money was put in the lapels of your coats and seams, they were hiding money to take with us. Some of those things i remember. Tell us what happened when the day came and they shipped you off, tell us about the trip to auschwitz. Adler well, they took us. I remember it was a sunny day. They loaded us into these boxcars. It was very crowded. You were locked in with almost no air, just one window, the door was slightly ajar. It was mostly, you were locked in there. And there were many people come i dont how many there were. There was barely room to sit. On the boxcar. There certainly was no room for anybody to stretch out. In the meantime, all of us had all these dumb suitcases that we packed in baked clothing and food to take with us to our new home. Which took up a lot of room. For bathroom facilities, we had a bucket, and thats it. And everybody in fact a , couple of people died in our boxcar going there. We were in that for 3. 5 days and we traveled, we had no idea where were going. But we did end up at auschwitz. What were conditions like in the boxcar . Adler it was just, everybody was there was no problem. People were just all miserable. Sort of like misery loves company. Nobody has, i mean, somebody is very sick and somebody dies,. We were all not too far from it. I dont ever being given any food except for the stuff we brought with us. What time did you get into auschwitz . Adler we came in i think it was early in the morning, maybe 10 00. I have no idea. I seem to remember it was nearly morning. It was like 10 00ish. Many people could see who were trying to get to the window to see as we were going by different areas. But i remember when we pulled in, the boxcar and the train finally came to a stop. We stopped several times before that, but this looks like a final destination. You can hear a racket. The prisoners in auschwitz that i didnt know incidentally, that was auschwitz. But the man who opened up our boxcar door did comment quickly to say, tell the young people if they are 16 years old, they worked in a factory. And you just and he just unlocked the car and went on. That was the comment i remember. As we got off, we were told the told to the board to deboard the train. One of my uncles had collapsed. He was very sick, he was just sitting there. Im not sure whether he died that day or not. But we had to leave him. On the loudspeaker there were announcing to say men should go here, women with children under 16 to go someplace else. I remember getting my brother saying go with mommy, see you later. We were lining up to go through what turned up to be the line, the selection process. Whatever it was called. That was what was going on. You thought you didnt know what was going to happen. Adler i have no idea. I thought, and i imagine everybody thought, that we were going to go through get search. We were told to leave all belongings on the train. They told us you will get it later, just leave it there. Separate men and women and small kids to go someplace else. Did they treat you brutally . Or were they adler there was some. They were hitting people if you didnt go, they had people with clubs and they were hitting you if you didnt go where you are supposed to, just to get you quickly off of the train into these lines they wanted to go to. That seemed to go, that seemed to progress quite well. There was commotion, chaos. It was a long train, there were quite a few people on the train. Because we were not the only town on the train. What happened to you . Adler as we were going through i dont understand this to this day. We were going through the line and i was not first in line, needless to say i was in last either. But there were people lining up and my experience as a kid, i always used to tail my father. Wherever he went, i wanted to go where he went. Even when he did not want me to go, i used to sneak behind him. My father was right ahead of me. A cousin of mine who had a club foot who was limping was a little bit ahead of us. As he went through this line, i dont understand really. Ive thought about it as to why we do this. Because when we came to the head of the line, he sent my cousin to the right, he sent my father to the right. And then he came to me and asked me how old i was. I told him i was 18 years old, he said did you ever work in a factory, i said yes, three years, and he said go to the right. And i noticed to the right . Adler to the right. I think that is what he told me. Did he tell the others to go to the right also . Told you to go in the same direction . Adler right. As he told me that, notice these people were lining up behind him on the left. So that i just didnt pay any attention, just went and got in right behind them, turn left and got lined up with those people. In other words i didnt follow my father. Any thought as to why . Adler no idea. The impression in me was that these people were in their late teens, 19, 20. Late teens 20s, maybe in their 30s. All the people who were lining up, i had friends world that i was. It was a split decision, it took all of one or two seconds. I didnt stop walking through the line, just kept on going. I just turned to go where these people were. Did you see your father . Adler i saw him go to the other side, i never said goodbye, i never saw them again. I never said goodbye to my brother, either. I just told him go with mommy, i will see you in a while. That was the last to sign. Then what happened . Adler then we were marched off and taken to the barracks where we were lined up and they were shaving everybody. Every hair on your body. I remember really because when it came to me, i had just gotten a haircut. And at that time we used to cut our hair, i had no here at all. No here at all. H hair at all. The guy who was shaving me he couldnt find a hair on it. He said what the hell is this kid doing here . I didnt have a hair on my body. He was the prize, no pubic hair anything to shave. He seemed to have a problem with this. But he passed me through. After the shaving we went in and took the shower. We were told take our clothes off before he went in there. It was a shower and got new clothes afterward. Like pajamas. And then we were marched into this camp and thats when reality sort of hit. It was the first time i was ever on my own. Totally. When was this . Adler june, 1944. I think it was june 14. Not sure. And, as i said, i found myself in this huge camp. Dreary, and with no i had what was on my back. Whatever i had was on my back, when they gave me the pajama uniform. With a million people. I was sort of separated, that wasnt anybody there for my hometown. There were a couple of people, but this was a huge building. And we were just being pushed around and shoved and i had finally met a couple people for my hometown. But most of them come a lot of people are didnt know. We spent several days there. What was the day like . Can you describe what the days were like . Adler the days were you hope d youre going to be in there to get work. What i realized after being there, as happened a few hours afterwards. When i realized what was afterwards. When i realized what was happening, i ended up in a building that was mostly kids. Guys more my age. That didnt seem right to me for some reason. So i ran away from there and they will let you go, you are in a camp compound, but you can go to the next building, there were several buildings there. I was looking for places where there were more adults. People who were more working because you could see some people working. Carrying stones and stuff like that. So that i mixed in with some of those. And i was just going from place to place, for the better part of those weeks. I was trying to find myself someplace where i would end up with more adults. And every time i ended up doing that, they were looking for work details and for some reason they always threw me out. I was too small and the lapel we used to march and be counted i was standing half of the time on a stone just so i would appear a little taller. Or a brick. When we would march, five people arms locked in, i would ask the guys to lift me up so that i wouldnt be that much shorter. And t