In 1944 the German Army occupied Budapest and began arresting and deporting Jews. Judith’s father tried to arrange for her to accompany a Gentile friend to the country as a child’s nursemaid. The Gestapo arrested her and her father the day before she was to leave the city. Both were sent to Auschwitz (Birkenau) in April of 1944.

She worked in the Elite Kommando sorting men’s clothes, which had been taken from incoming prisoners. As the Russians approached she was moved to Ravensbruck outside of Berlin. Again as the Russian Army came near she was moved to a camp in Sudentenland. While being transported she and a friend managed to escape and eventually found refuge in a German hospital that was in American occupied territory and was being administered by the United States military. Here she met her future husband.

I. INTERVIEW BASICS (Mike Crawford, indexer)

Name of Interviewee(s): Judith Summer

Date or inclusive dates of Interviews: August 30, 1987

Type of recording medium

and no. of physical units: VHS videocassette

Playing time: 0:53

Name of Interviewer(s): N/A

Place(s) of the interview(s): N/A

Name of other people present: N/A

Circumstances of the interview(s),

including type of preparation: N/A

II. BIOGRAPHICAL

Other or former names: N/A

Gender: Female

Birth year: 1925

Birthplace: Budapest

Nationality: Hungary

Dialect: N/A

Number of siblings (names?): Only child

Parents’ names: N/A

Parents’ occupations: N/A

Place of upbringing: Budapest

Family background: N/A

Education, including school(s) attended: finished Gymnasium 1943

Date of marriage: married to Dr. Sam Surlough (?) 1945; he died in an automobile accident in 1947. married to Joe Summer, 1948

Spouse’s occupation: first husband was a dentist; second husband occupation unknown

No. and gender of children (names?): three children: Fred (by 1^st husband), Babs and Tommy

Child or children responsible for

initiative for interview: N/A

Occupation(s) with dates: N/A

Political and organizational affiliation(s): N/A

Religion (was the individual a convert?;

were both parents Jewish?): Jewish

Place of residence now: Columbus (at time of interview)

Economic circumstances: N/A

Decorations or qualifications: N/A

III. SUMMARY OF THE GENERAL CONTENT, NATURE, AND SCOPE – discussed but not limited to …

Geographical area discussed: Hungary, Poland, Germany, Sudentenland, Czechoslovakia

Names of persons discussed: Did not name others except to mention that she saw Dr. Josef Mengela at Auschwitz

Time period covered: March 1944 – August 1945

Summary of subject content: description

of events, conditions, objects, and activities,

with locations and dates when possible: arrival of German army in Budapest, arrest by the Gestapo, life in Auschwitz and other camps, escape during final days of the war, reunion with mother.

Opinions and attitudes expressed by the interviewee: Judith’s story was told as an historical narrative with little in the way of personal opinion added. She did mention on several occasions that she felt her life had been protected, i.e. “somebody was watching over me.”

Opinions the interviewee has heard

expressed about the informant or others: N/A

Personal recollections about other people: told of the importance of her 4 friends, “sisters,” in her survival. No names were given.

Brief indication of the subject matter

of illustrative stories or anecdotes: Budapest 1944, life in Auschwitz, the final days of the war

IV. PARTCULARS OF SPECIAL ATTENTION UNDER III. FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS:

Among what groups – ethnic or religious –

did the individual live? Jewish family. She does mention a Gentile friend of the family that tried to help during the early occupation of Budapest in 1944.

When did they first sense something was wrong? In 1938 the “Jewish Laws” were introduced in Hungary.

Did they witness any early anti-Jewish incidents? N/A

When did they first witness arrests

and deportatations? March 1944

Was their own arrest as individual or

family or other grouping? Judith was arrested with her father.

Were they split from family members? Yes, during arrest and transportation. Last time she saw her father was upon arrival at Auschwitz.

Were they moved around within the camp

or from camp to camp? What were the

names of the places? Detained in: Gestapo headquarters in Budapest, Auschwitz (Birkenau), Ravensbruck, and a camp in Sudetenland (name forgotten).

Do they relate any Nazi technical terms or

jargon – what words or phrases? No

Do they mention perpetrators names? Dr. Josef Mengela was at Auschwitz making selections as they came off the train.

Summarize anecdotes:

When were they liberated? Escaped from the retreating Germans on April 27, 1945.

Where did they go? Judith met her future husband, a U.S, army dentist shortly after escaping. They were married in Prague. After the war they came to Columbus, OH.

Did they go to their old home? Judith returned for a brief visit in 1945.

Were they reunited? She was reunited with her mother and grandmother. Her father had died after being liberated from Bergen – Belsen.

0:00:42 Born in Budapest Hungary, 1925.

0:01:00 Life changed in 1938 when Germany occupied Austria. Jewish laws began in Hungary. The situation for Jews was worse in Poland.

0:02:20 She graduated from the gymnasium in 1943. She was allowed to finish but at that time no Jews were allowed to begin an education at the gymnasium.

0:02:55 In March of 1944 the retreating German army entered Hungary. Jews could not work. Jews had to wear the Yellow Star within days of their entry. No Jew could leave Budapest. Even those who were visiting were arrested and put into an internment camp in Budapest.

0:04:45 There was a rumor that young Jewish girls were being made to be as prostitutes for the German soldiers. But, “we weren’t even good enough for that.”

0:05:35 Judith’s father arranged, through a Gentile friend, for Judith to escape. She was to go to a small town as a child’s nursemaid. The Gestapo came as she was getting ready to leave. They found the false papers. Her father tried to take the blame but both were taken away.

0:07:00 After the war Judith’s mother found out that the family maid had mentioned to the wife of the concierge that Judith was leaving Budapest. That woman wanted the family’s valuables that had been hidden in the basement and so denounced Judith to the Gestapo.

0:08:25 Only people arrested in the beginning of the occupation were sent to the camps.

0:09:27 Judith was first taken to Gestapo Headquarters. Later she was taken to the Budapest police station.

0:10:00 Her mother tried to find help but was told: “If I were a murderer they could help but they can’t help a Jew.”

0:10:55 Next she was sent to an internment camp. Then she was taken to the railroad station by the Hungarian police and put into a railroad car. When the door opened again there was a German soldier and many people became worried.

0:12:00 The train began to move and after a day everyone realized that they were no longer in Hungary. After two and a half days the door opened again and they were at Auschwitz.

0:13:06 Getting off the train she was made to stand in a line of five. This was the last time she saw her father.

0:13:30 A German officer was making some sort of selection as they got off. Those under 15 or over 50 were sent to the left. She later learned that this man was Dr. Mengela.

0:14:20 She was sent to the right and received her tattoo. Her clothes were taken away and she was sent to the showers. At least, “we got water” and not gas.

0:15:40 The heads of the women were not shaved. Only twice in history were women from the transports not shaved. Keeping her hair helped her moral.

0:16:45 We were in Birkenau, the extermination camp near Auschwitz.

0:17:30 Prisoners that were already there told us that those who went to the left were “going up the chimney,” i.e. being burned. We came from a civilized place and so did not believe them.

0:18:05 Judith’s first job was extending the railroad spur into camp so that the prisoners could be processed more efficiently.

0:19:25 She was then selected (somebody was watching over her, “I was always lucky.”) to work in the Elite Kommando. She sorted through the clothes and belongings taken from the new prisoners. She worked specifically in the men’s clothing barracks.

0:21:00 It was a good job. It was inside and one could steal shoes or things to trade. If you were caught, however, that was the end. The prisoners tried to sabotage the Germans when they could.

0:22:20 So many people were coming in from Hungary, the Elite Kommando had a day and a night shift. Clothes were sent to Germany for civilians.

0:23:45 From the grapevine they learned when there was to be an inspection. If so all the stolen items were thrown on the road before entering the camp. They traded clothes for food with the prisoners who were farm workers.

0:24:50 The Gypsy camp was next to Judith’s camp. One day they marched the whole camp to the gas chamber. There was no apparent reason for this.

0:24:50 Food: for breakfast a cup of “so called” coffee; at noon a “so called” soup; a piece of bread at night.

0:26:30 Judith survived because she worked inside and she was young. She had no one to worry about but herself. She kept her health.

0:27:50 She worked in the same place until January of 1945. The Russians were getting close she could hear the cannons.

0:28:45 On January 18^th she left Auschwitz. As she was leaving she could see the Germans blowing up the crematories and gas chambers. They were also burning all the records.

0:29:00 She as tattooed like an animal but at least she was something.

0:30:00 It was bitter cold. The Germans marched the prisoners. Anyone who sat down was shot. They walked for days and then were out in open railroad wagons.

0:31:00 Judith tried to stay with four other girls. They told everyone that they were sisters.

0:31:10 They were taken to Camp Ravensbruck near Berlin. Judith’s memory becomes vague here. Things were very bad. They dug ditches. She was getting sick and weak.

0:32:40 In March the Russians were getting close. The prisoners were put on trains, like sardines.

0:33:20 They were taken to Sudentenland, between Germany and Czechoslovakia, to a little camp. She could not remember its name.

0:33:55 The five friends were separated. Only Judith and one other girl were left together. They had to move. They just started walking. The SS knew the end was near so they did not shoot the people who fell.

0:35:10 Judith’s friend was sick. They were going to leave her behind and Judith begged to be allowed to stay with her “sister.”

0:36:00 They met some French POW’s. The POW’s asked why they did not try to escape. Judith said she did not know where they were or where she would go. The POW’s gave them some bread.

0:36:35 The Germans sent a wagon back for them. However, the soldier in charge was not a member of the SS but a member of the Wehrmach. He signaled Judith and her friend that he would not stop them if they left. So they escaped. This was on April 27^th exactly one year after she had entered Auschwitz.

0:38:30 Judith made up a story that they were from a nearby farm that had been bombed out and that their parents had been killed. They slept in barns as they traveled.

0:39:10 They could hear cannons from both sides but could not tell which side was which. They could not determine which way to go.

0:39:40 They had to take a chance and find a hospital. Judith’s friend needed attention.

0:40:15 They stopped for lunch and knocked on the door of a house. It was filled with German soldiers! Judith told them her story and the soldiers were in tears. They slept in the barn and during the night heard a lot of noise. Judith looked out to see the Germans leaving. A little later the Americans arrived. She saw her first G.I. sitting on a tank and chewing gum.

0:42:40 When they left for the hospital Judith met two G.I.’s. She tried to communicate in broken English. When she told them she was from Budapest one G.I. spoke to her in perfect Hungarian. He was a Hungarian boy from Cleveland.

0:43:20 She got her friend to the hospital and was allowed to stay. She worked first as a washerwoman then as a German nurse. Here Judith met her first husband. Dr. Sam Surlough (?), a U.S. Army dentist.

0:44:00 An old Rabbi who had just returned from Auschwitz married them in Prague. They could not find 10 Jewish men in Prague for the minyan. An army officer brought some friend to meet the requirement.

0:45:00 Judith traveled with the Army because she had no place to go. She visited misplace persons camps looking for her family.

0:46:45 She asked the American ambassador in Prague for permission to return to Budapest. This was in August of 1945. She was not allowed to because the Russians occupied Budapest. The ambassador was, however, able to make some inquiries. They found Judith’s mother. Eventually she was able to see her mother and grandmother.

0:48:40 She found out that her father had ended up in Bergen - Belsen. He died after the liberation.

0:49:00 She eventually brought her mother to America, where she lived with Judith for 36 years.

0:49:30 Columbus was a wonderful place. The hardest adjustment was learning to become a wife and a mother.

0:50:25 Her first child was born in 1946. His name is Fred. He still lives in Columbus and is an attorney.

0:50:55 Judith’s first husband was killed in an auto accident in 1947.

0:51:30 She married Joe Summer in 1948. They had two children. Babs was born in 1952. She lives in Boston and is a CPA. Tommy was born in 1953, lives in Chicago and is also a CPA.

0:53:05 End