[Music plays] >> Bill Benson: Welcome. Thank you for joining us for First Person:
Conversations with Holocaust Survivors. I'm Bill Benson, and I have hosted First Person since it
began at the Museum in 2000. We are in our 25th year. Each month, we share first-hand accounts
of survival during the Holocaust. Each of our First Person guests serves as a volunteer at
the Museum. Holocaust survivors are Jews who experienced the persecution and survived the mass
murder that was carried out by the Nazis and their collaborators. This included those who were in
concentration camps, killing centers, ghettos, and prisons, as well as refugees or those in hiding.
Holocaust survivors also include people who did not self-identify as Jewish, but were categorized
as such by the perpetrators. We are honored to have Holocaust survivor Ruth Cohen share her first-hand
account of the Holocaust with us. Ruth, thank you so much for agreeing to be our First Person. Welcome. >> Ruth Cohen: You're welcome. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, I know you just have so much to share with us in our short one hour so we'll
get started right away. Ruth, you were born April 26, 1930 in Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia in present-
day Ukraine. Before we turn to your early life, World War II, and the Holocaust, please tell
us about your parents Herman and Bertha and their lives prior to your birth. >> Ruth Cohen: My parents
married about a year and a half before I was born. My mother came from Slovakia, my father came
from Czechoslovakia, from Mukačevo. My mother moved to Užhorod which is, I'm not sure how many
miles away from Mukačevo. She lived there until they met, and I don't know how they met. My dad
was a businessman. He manufactured -- he and his brother manufactured wine, liqueur, and sold
beer wholesale. Bottled and sold it. Other than that, I assume they lived happily. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, your parents were well-educated. Can
you tell us a little bit about that? >> Ruth Cohen: Well, actually my father was educated professionally, my
mother was not. Girls at the time -- at the time where my mother lived, girls were not formally
educated, but she was always reading, always studying. I suppose she copied her brothers who
were all professionals, and she was as if she had a very, very high degree of education. >> Bill Benson: So
pretty much self-educated from that standpoint. >> Ruth Cohen: Absolutely self-educated. From I think 8th grade. >> Bill Benson: You mentioned a little bit about your father's wholesale business. Tell us a little
bit more about it. Who were the customers? >> Ruth Cohen: Well the customers were wholesale businesses but
on Friday afternoon, my sister, my brother, and I were helping out in refilling bottles, wine
bottles, for Jews who were observing Shabbat dinner and used it to make Kiddush mostly. >> Bill Benson: So you had the job
of helping to fill the bottles when they came on Fridays. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. And that was in my grandfather's and
my father's business cellar. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, your father had been previously married and had a daughter,
Teresa, whom your parents raised. Tell us about Teresa. >> Ruth Cohen: Teresa was raised by my mother and father
after she was seven. Before that, she was raised by my grandmother and my other aunts who every month
came to visit, took turns visiting, and helped my grandmother raise her. I must say that it left
some scars on her, but as far as I was concerned she was my older sister. She was great to me.
She sort of saved my life in Auschwitz and then when we came home from Auschwitz. I'm not sure that
she continued her education but she certainly was able to take a position in an office and work.
I don't know at what level and she did that until the time she left Czechoslovakia. >> Bill Benson: And
Ruth one more question before we move on from those early years. Your parents were religious.
Can you say more about that? >> Ruth Cohen: Well they were very religious. Now we would call them on the Modern
Orthodox side, but at that time it was deeper than that. And they were Zionists, both
of them. Perhaps my grandfather too, I'm not sure. My mother was president of several, not
Jewish but Zionist, organizations in our town and highly revered because of that and because
of what she was, and my dad was my dad. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, you were born in 1930. What do you remember
about your early years? Of course one of the things you remembered was helping out in your
father's business on Fridays, but what else do you recall from your early years? >> Ruth Cohen: Well this picture
is taken across the street from our house. It's a huge piece of land with a house in the middle
of it where my best friend lived. First of all we played soccer in their front yard which was
huge. Every time we came home from school, we, meaning the children in the neighborhood,
went there and played soccer, did our homework after that. I can also say that every Friday
afternoon, because our school has ended and we were home by 1:00, I had to help our housekeeper
with preparing for Shabbat. We had to help scrub some chairs, perhaps with some cooking. It was
our job to do that. Other than that -- go ahead. >> Bill Benson: I was gonna ask you what you can tell us about this photo. >> Ruth Cohen: Well I did before, no? Okay, I'm sorry. This photo is one of a time when we received a
present from the United States, from New York, with of a football and some sort of a toy
for my brother. So each time we received a package my mother put our best clothes on and
we had to go probably always to this spot and take a picture and send it off to New York to
my family. >> Bill Benson: And I can't help but noting that while you played soccer, that's an American football in
that photograph. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. But that's what it is. Alright, we'll use that. Yes. >> Bill Benson: Ruth
tell us a little bit about your little brother Ari. >> Ruth Cohen: Well, I could talk about him for a long
time, but he was adorable. He was also very wonderful little boy. Was very,
very, very bright. Something really funny I can say about him aside from everything else,
he also was a sportsman whatever, I mean he was excellent student in school, excellent student in
the cheder. The funny thing that I want to mention is that he would be very anxious to do everything
perfectly. And we had to learn all the poems by heart, absolutely by heart, so at night my
mother would say to him, "Okay you have studied enough. Now put the book under your pillow, and
tomorrow morning you know it." And sure enough he knew it but -- he knew it by morning right
because he studied it before and he knew it >> Bill Benson: He knew it by morning. >> Ruth Cohen: Right, because he studied it before and he knew it. It was really funny. We always made fun of him
for that. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, you had a large extended family. Aunts, uncles, cousins. Would you share a little
about your family, the extended family? >> Ruth Cohen: Well, my father's family lived in -- some of it lived
in Mukačevo and most of it lived in nearby towns. Not very nearby, maybe 50 miles away, 150 miles, 130,
or maybe a little more. I'm not certain. The daughters came to visit once a month. They
supposedly visited my grandmother and grandfather, and they always spent at least about a week
in each -- not in each, but each time with my grandmother. My grandparents. When my grandfather died, my grandmother moved to our house, and they spent their week in our house which
very often caused friction between my sister and not myself as much as my mother, because
everything was always [?] when my mother had to say that. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, your family spoke several languages. Will you
tell us about that? >> Ruth Cohen: Sure. It's not our family but everybody in the area. Outside of Hebrew,
which we also spoke, everybody spoke four or five languages. So it was, at first it was Czech
and then changed to Hungarian, then German. German, Hungarian, and Hebrew were really the
the family household languages. The others came when we needed, whenever we needed to understand even
Russian or the Ukrainian language. We understood it, we spoke it, but not perfect. >> Bill Benson: It wasn't your daily language. >> Ruth Cohen: No. But the others were. >> Bill Benson: Do you recall if you or members of your family
experienced any antisemitism in your early years? >> Ruth Cohen: I have to say no, we did not. We lived in an area
kind of half and half, and there was no one that ever made me aware of antisemitism
except a little later on, a little later. Maybe in '41, '42. One of my friends did not go to
my school and she sometimes talked about it, but not really. We did not understand
what that was at the time. >> Bill Benson: At the time. Ruth... >> Ruth Cohen: I did not mention my mom's family who
lived all over Czechoslovakia and Hungary. And the men came to visit us also around once every
two months though our house was always, not full but welcoming family members and was always wonderful,
except when some of my aunts did some trouble. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, from 1938 to 1939, Nazi Germany dismantled
Czechoslovakia. In 1938, Mukačevo and other nearby communities became part of Hungary. You were
just 8 years old at the time. What happened to your family now that your hometown was part of
Hungary? >> Ruth Cohen: The very first thing that happened was that my school was changed from a co-ed classroom,
not a co-ed school, co-ed classroom, to each. Boys and girls had to be in separate classes with
the curriculum being exactly the same, except for Czech was changed to Hungarian. Everything
else remained the same. Other than that, my dad's business was taken away from him. He had to
train the man who they brought from Budapest to carry on with business activities. I have no idea
what the situation was salary-wise or income- wise. It was never discussed in the house so
I don't know. >> Bill Benson: But they literally took the business from him and took somebody else and brought him in,
and had them now own the business. >> Ruth Cohen: Exactly. With my uncle and dad training them. >> Bill Benson: Training them because they probably knew nothing about the business. >> Ruth Cohen: No. Exactly. >> Bill Benson: Ruth,
you had a nanny when you were young, but she left at that time. Please tell us about her and
why she left. >> Ruth: Well, aside from the fact that she was wonderful, she received a letter on two days,
three days perhaps after March 8th I think, when Mukačevo became Hungary, that she must go home. She's
not allowed to work for Jews. So we all spent the day crying or maybe two days and that means
herself, my family, the kids, everyone. And she left and we missed her terribly. >> Bill Benson: And that was that. >> Ruth Cohen: That was it. >> Bill Benson: In 1942 your mother learned that some of her family members in Slovakia had
been deported to Majdanek concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Please tell us what your
mother learned and how this affected your family. >> Ruth Cohen: My mother's not youngest but
the next youngest brother lived in Slovakia in a city -- village called [?] where he was a
rabbi, but not with a congregation. He was a rabbi. He was constantly studying. He had a wife and three
little girls. And in Hlohovec, in another town, lived my mother's sister. All of them were taken to Majdanek
and we got, I don't know how, but we got a report of the fact that they were killed, all of them.
My mother immediately took the wig off which she wore because of our religious beliefs
and never put it back on again. The whole family had to go into deep mourning such as not listen
to music for about a year. Then we did not go to the movies, to theater, to concerts at all. >> Bill Benson: All as
part of this deep mourning that your family was going through. >> Ruth Cohen: Yes. >> Bill Benson: Two of your young cousins,
Leo and Esti, from Slovakia came to live with you. Can you tell us about that? >> Ruth Cohen: Well the aunt that
was taken to Majdanek had a daughter who was married and had three children, two boys and a girl. When
things were getting a little rough in Slovakia, more so than in Hungary, my family decided
that they wanted to adopt these two, adopt their children to save them in case everybody will
be taken away from Slovakia, because Hungary at that point was not losing its Jews yet. My
cousins did not want to give up all their children but they did give up two. So the oldest one stayed
with them, hoping that they are going to -- we are going to survive and they may not.
We got Leo and Esti. Leo was 10 and Esti was nine, eight and a half, nine. My
parents adopted them. They came to live with us. Also very sweet, wonderful, very pretty children, and
we treated them as if they were our sister and brother. >> Bill Benson: Several other family members, your uncle
Moritz and your cousin Hedvig, who were in Slovakia were hiding Jews. What do you know about
what they did and about what happened to them? >> Ruth Cohen: Well, Hedvig was the mother of these two children
who we adopted. They, she and her husband whose name was Freddy, saved, I think, about 40
people, but I don't know where. Could have been more but I don't know how and where they saved them
but they did, which we learned from some of the survivors actually. My uncle, Moritz, saved about
150 children -- 125 people in this building that was part of his synagogue. In the attic
and in his apartment, in the attic. In November of 1944, both of them were ratted out by the people
in both towns who were actually aware of what was happening and were getting paid from both
my uncle and my cousin to help them save these people. I don't know what happened,
what made them rat them out actually. I don't know. >> Bill Benson: But they had done incredible work by
hiding those numbers of other Jews. >> Ruth Cohen: And when they were ratted out, I'm sorry -- when they were ratted
out, they were taken to Auschwitz. My uncle with my aunt, and my cousin with her one
child and her husband were taken to Auschwitz. I don't exactly know what happened to my cousins, but my
uncle because my aunt survived, she told us that my uncle and she were on the death march in Auschwitz
I suppose around December, maybe January. And he didn't even have to go, but he went because
everybody else went, and he couldn't take it. He just collapsed and died. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, in the photo we just
had, if we could go back for just a moment, tell us who's circled here. >> Ruth Cohen: The young
man with the hat is my cousin who went to England in 1939. He became part of the, I think it
was called the British Brigade that was actually an Israeli Brigade, and he ended up either in
Greece, I'm not sure. My other cousin ended up in Greece. I'm not sure that he was there. And then he
went back to Israel and became a high official in the Army, in the Israeli Army. My uncle is the
one I just talked about. >> Bill Benson: There was a young woman and others who came to your town from
Poland, and they talked about terrible things that were being done to Jews in Poland. What
do you know of what she told you? >> Ruth Cohen: Well, at one point, it was either '41 or '42 -- '40, '41, '42. A whole
group of young ladies came over from Poland and many of us, many Jewish families, housed them. The
ones that were at our house told us about the horrors that they ran away from because people
were having to dig their own graves, stand right next to them, and shot, and fall
into the graves. And they wanted to avoid it I suppose, and they did while they were at our
house, but I have no idea what happened to them. Just none. I never heard about them, my family never
heard about them again. >> Bill Benson: And Ruth, you shared with me when they came and told you about
these horrific things, it was hard to believe it, wasn't it? >> Ruth Cohen: Well of course, because it was
not something normal for us to either experience or other people to experience such things. So no
we didn't, but eventually we had to. >> Bill Benson: And to move into those times now, in March 1944,
Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Hungary. As bad as things had been for your family and other Jews
in Hungary, it immediately became far worse. Within a month, your family was forced from your home
and into a transit ghetto. What do you recall about the Germans coming into Mukačevo? >> Ruth Cohen: Mostly I
remember is the awful racket early in the morning on that same morning when they came in with the
tanks and motorcycles and just drove all over the city. It wasn't a tiny city, it was a
city of, at that time, 45 or so thousand people. It was awful. >> Bill Benson: You weren't in the ghetto
that they made you go into, this transit ghetto, very long before you were forced into freight
cars. Please tell us what you remember about being moved out of the ghetto. >> Ruth Cohen: Moving out of the
ghetto, I remember nothing. I remember knowing that we had to pack a few things. My parents had to
pack a few pots, a few dishes, some food, our clothing, and that's all. And after
that I have absolutely no memory of what happened until we left that ghetto. >> Bill Benson: Until you left the
ghetto. But the clothes that you were able to pack, I was struck by you sharing
with me that you actually put on many layers of clothes. >> Ruth Cohen: Well, this was just before Pesach (Passover) and I
don't know whether everybody else but certainly our family received new clothing before Pesach and
before Rosh Hashanah. So I know that I had three dresses that had been made for me. I had brand new shoes,
about an inch-high heels, 'cuz before that I wore like a half an inch or even even lower. And
because it was my 14th birthday, I had the best, most fantastic present, and that was silk stockings.
That's what we wore, that's what I wore. Yes. >> Bill Benson: When you were taken from there to the freight
cars, who was with you? >> Ruth Cohen: My family and my extended family because first of all, this ghetto was in
one of the extended family's housing. I don't even know what to call it. There were
several little houses, tiny ones, and we lived in one of them and it was there, then there was
their big house. They had lots of kids and I suppose that they each had a little house.
I'm not sure. >> Bill Benson: And when you were all with all your family, you were taken to the freight
cars. So you saw people all around you who you knew, including one of your teachers.
Tell us what happened to her that you witnessed. >> Ruth Cohen: That I witnessed and everybody else. She
was a remarkable person. Almost everybody adored her and I certainly did. And she was the kind of
person who said, "No, I'm not going to do what I'm told to do. I'm not going to go up on those steps
and get into those trains." So she sat down on the first step and she was
killed there right away. She was shot right away. And she was left there for all of us to see, all
her students, all her students' families. It was terrible. Awful. >> Bill Benson: And you're 14 years old. >> Ruth Cohen: And one of the worst things in my existence at that time and a little later also. >> Bill Benson: When that happened and you were forced onto those trains, Ruth, did you know, did you have
any idea where you were going? >> Ruth Cohen: No. Nobody knew. If my parents did, and I don't think they did, but
if they did, they never said a word. >> Bill Benson: And so, after four days of traveling in the freight cars you
arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. Please tell us what happened to you and your family when
you arrived at Auschwitz. >> Ruth Cohen: I'd like to mention the fact that we had very little food. None that we received
from the Germans, and absolutely no water. >> Bill Benson: For four days. >> Ruth Cohen: For four days. They gave us no water just to
torture us. That we were absolutely afraid of, because people cried for water and they weren't
getting it. So when we got to Auschwitz, we saw a lot of people. A lot of people in striped
clothing which were the Jewish prisoners. We saw some German officers and a lot
of people on the other side. I guess we had to line up with the people on the other side
where we were. No, I'm sorry. Men were immediately... >> Bill Benson: They were separated from you right away, right? >> Ruth Cohen: Separated. They were separated. And they were the people on the right-hand side. We were -- all females and children were together. We were on the left-hand side and we were marching towards the German officers
that we saw. One of them happened to be Mengele. The other one was a woman, but I'm not sure whether it
was his girlfriend or not. But it might have been. The others were just officers.
My mother and my three siblings were sent to the left, my sister and I were sent to the right, and
my dad had already gone sort of away. And that's what happened. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, when you and your sister
were separated from your mother and your siblings, and your father had already been
taken away, when did you learn what happened to them? >> Ruth Cohen: I don't know how many hours it took but
it was the same day. I have no memory of what happened after we were separated. Obviously,
apparently, we women who were separated from the rest of the family were shaved, deloused, washed,
and got new clothing, the striped clothing with some shoes, the wooden shoes. We went to --
we walked to the barracks that we were to be in for a while. 7 months exactly. And when
we entered the barrack that we were going to, a woman ran to my sister. They recognized each other
as old friends of five years ago, five years prior to that, who had been to summer camp, and
cried and hugged and cried, and it was amazing. Anyway, she helped us. First of all, she told
us that my mother and siblings are already not alive. They are already gassed and taken care
of, which we certainly did not believe. It was as ridiculously unbelievable as possible. But
then she did two things that were great. One, she gave us a cube of sugar which most of the time
in my life, even up to now, somehow the last few weeks it stopped, but I, when I think about it,
I feel the energy of the sugar going through my veins, which is kind of unbelievable but it's a fact. >> Bill Benson: To this day you have felt that all these years. >> Ruth Cohen: Well the last few weeks I
haven't. Until then I definitely did. I never asked my sister whether she did. Interesting. And
then she provided me with a job, and my sister she hired as -- hired, not hired, but decided she was
going to be her assistant which she was until the end of the time that we were in Auschwitz. And I got a
wonderful job as a messenger which was a very well- protected job and this is how I survived. >> Bill Benson: And I'm
gonna ask you a couple more questions about that in a moment. Before I do though, the barrack
that you went to was part of something called C-Lager. What was especially significant about C-Lager? >> Ruth Cohen: But there was just one barrack of 30 barracks in the C-Lager. Right. We were supposed
to be killed. I don't know what the plan was but that's what it was, and therefore they did not
tattoo us. They did not waste money on ink and labor so we were not tattooed. >> Bill Benson: And Ruth, as you
said, your barrack was one of 30 barracks. How many women were in each of those barracks? >> Ruth Cohen: 1,000. >> Bill Benson: 1,000. >> Ruth Cohen: Each barrack had... >> Bill Benson: So 30,000 women in C-Lager. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, you were 14 and Teresa was 21 while you were in Auschwitz and as you said, Miriam gave you this job of being a messenger. Tell us, were there
other messengers and what were you required to do as a messenger? >> Ruth Cohen: There were very few
youngsters like myself. There was one 13 year old, I think either one 15 year old or one other 14 year old,
and the others were 15. All together we were about 13 girls. Our job was to stand, I don't know how
the schedule was made, but two or three of us each time were standing by the gate which had
a little office kind of thing for the Nazis. I think each one had three Nazis
in them and we were outside of it to serve them as they needed to send messages to any one of
the 30 barracks in that particular camp. We never got out of that camp. Just had to run from
there to anyone, or if anyone called from there, we had to go get the message and bring it to
the officers. >> Bill Benson: So sending messages back and forth between these 30 barracks and the guards'
shacks that they were in. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. But they were not guards. The guards were up around. >> Bill Benson: Okay.
What was your sister's job? >> Ruth Cohen: To help Miriam clean and keep the barrack in order. >> Bill Benson: Did having
these jobs -- did they offer you any particular advantages? >> Ruth Cohen: Well, yes. We, especially I, was
kind of safe because of it, because I had typhoid fever. I was taken to the infirmary,
and when the Nazis came in to select the very weak or the very sick, the nurses and the
doctors hid us. I don't know where they took us but they took us away, and then brought us
back when it was over. So we were never selected to go to the gas chambers from there. And
my sister also. >> Bill Benson: She was saved from being sent to the gas because of the job. >> Ruth Cohen: Yeah. >> Bill Benson: And Ruth, you shared with me that when you went to the infirmary because you were so
ill with typhoid fever that they actually treated you which was really uncommon. >> Ruth Cohen: Right.
They treated everybody. I don't know with what medication, but we did get treated and I
don't know who got better but I did. >> Bill Benson: And during this time you had an encounter with your
father. Tell us about that. >> Ruth Cohen: We received -- my sister and I received a message. I have
no idea how. I don't know where, what, but we received a message from my dad that we should
be at a certain spot by the wire fence and we will see him walk with blankets with other men. So
we did that and yes, we saw him. He was carrying blankets, he and other men were
carrying blankets. I don't know to where but we managed to wave to him. He waved back and
he smiled, and of course we smiled. Probably shouted. >> Bill Benson: Up until that point Ruth, did
you even know he was alive? >> Ruth Cohen: No. And another thing is, we were looking for my uncle to be with
him and we didn't see him. So I don't know whether we decided that he wasn't alive or not but my
sister and I, I remember now, talked about it. >> Bill Benson: And speaking of your uncle, if you don't mind,
tell us about the message you got from another uncle who was also at Auschwitz. >> Ruth Cohen: About a month after we got the message from my dad, this was, by now it was probably July, we got a message
from my uncle, my mother's youngest brother, who had lived in Brno in Czechoslovakia. Jews from Brno
were taken to Terezin where they stayed for an undetermined time. I don't know if it was a day
or a month or many months, I don't know. But he sent us a message that he is in Auschwitz
now and could we meet him at another wire fence at 4:00 in the afternoon. So
we did. And again, we had no idea how these messages happened. We met him and we talked and
probably laughed a lot. Of course we couldn't touch but he told us that we will see him for a
few days and when we don't, we should know that he has been sent to the gas chambers and killed.
And about 4 days later we went there, and he he wasn't there, but a woman was there who came
with a message from him saying that he's no longer alive and he sent us his love. And that
was, I think, one of the most horrible moments in my life. Worse than just about anything else, and
still thinking about it is unbelievable. >> Bill Benson: To this very day of course. >> Ruth Cohen. Yes. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, in early October
1944, there was a prisoner revolt at Auschwitz that included prisoners setting fire to one of the
crematorium. You were witness to some portion of that. What do you remember of that? >> Ruth Cohen: Well standing by that booth gave us a view of the next camp and the street between us. And all
of a sudden we saw two push carts being pushed by four women. Two each. The push carts were covered
with blankets. We were wondering what that was, but they passed our area and then turned
left and we knew that they were going to the crematoria because that's where it was. It was
was right behind our barrack. Then we heard a not very large explosion. What happened was
the revolt did not succeed because apparently most of the TNT did not explode. There was
an explosion but that was it. However, all the gas chambers after that were -- no, the crematorium
after that were stopped from functioning so that was sort of the end of Auschwitz. From what I know
now, didn't know it until recently, is those four women were hung in the middle of Auschwitz not near
us, we didn't see it. I didn't know about it until maybe a month ago. They were hung, the men who were
involved in distributing the TNT were also killed, and the Sonderkommando who was in charge at the
time of this little revolt were also killed. The other thing that happened is that as they emptied
the camp, this was on the 7th of October, they started emptying Auschwitz, sending the prisoners to different
camps. My sister and I were sent to Nuremberg. >> Bill Benson: And Nuremberg was in Germany, right? >> Ruth Cohen: Yes. Working
in a factory which I never remember the name of or hardly ever. We worked there winding wire
on spools for airlines. While we were there, something really nice happened to us and that
was -- four women sat at each table, and when we came in one morning and then several other mornings,
we found little brown bags on the chairs that we sat on with either a slice of bread, an apple,
or both. For us, it was really amazing to us that this happened, aside from the fact that we love to
eat what we got, but that these people were actually taking such terrible chances of getting killed... >> Bill Benson: By leaving you a piece of bread or an apple. >> Ruth Cohen: Yes. But they did and that was quite a
wonderful thing. >> Bill Benson: Thanks for telling us about that, Ruth. And of course while you were at this camp
at Nuremberg, the Allies were constantly bombing it and eventually that camp was destroyed. So
after the camp was destroyed, you and Teresa were sent to yet another camp, Holyshov, which was another
subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. And you were there for about three months and that's
where you were liberated from. Please tell us about being liberated from Holyshov, which I
think you also did very similar work helping to build airplane parts. >> Ruth Cohen: It was the same factory
so we did the same thing. I was sick shortly after we got there and stayed sick throughout the time.
I think I worked for a week, possibly two, but then I had to be in bed because there was just no
way I could stand on my legs. My feet, my back was killing me. At any rate then came the end of the
war. And one Saturday when we were not working, we noticed men running down the mountain next
to our barrack with open bayonets. They did come down, they opened the gates, and actually told us
that we were free but not free to leave the camp. The American soldiers will come to free us in a
few days and that it is close to the very end of the war. >> Bill Benson: So these were not Americans. Who were these? >> Ruth Cohen: They were White Russian partisans. >> Bill Benson: White Russian partisans. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. Very important, I'm
sorry. They locked the barracks, locked the camps, and they invited anyone who wanted to
go back with them to their camp should. About two hours, an hour or two later, a group
of 90 people, 90, 95 people, came back and told us that the partisans told them, that asked them
who was Jewish and if whoever is Jewish they don't want them there, just go back. So I guess
antisemitism was still there. >> Bill Benson: And this was among the liberators, the White Russian partisans,
and they sent all those people back to the camp. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. They kept about 25, I think.
Those people were political prisoners from Germany, Russia, Poland, Holland, France. So after that,
two days later we were liberated by the American soldiers, and that was the last day of the war. >> Bill Benson: And you said to me, that you really were liberated twice and the second
one was your real liberation. >> Ruth Cohen: Permanent. Right. >> Bill Benson: And so the Americans came, they liberated you.
The last day of the war. But they too said not to go out, right? >> Ruth Cohen: Right, because things were still
going on. First of all some not German soldiers but German people who are not
very much for us were out there hurting people and we should not go out. And also they were afraid
that some of the women will go out and break into homes and steal things and they didn't want
that to happen, and it didn't happen. Not at all. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, you remained with your sister Teresa
throughout the experience that you've just told us about. We have a video question from a student,
Kana. Let's go ahead and hear from Kana. >> Kana: Hi, my name is Kana. I'm from Washington, DC. How did you and
your sister maintain hope through all you had to experience? >> Bill Benson: Ruth, what Kana asks is, "How did you and your
sister maintain hope through everything that you experienced?" >> Ruth Cohen: That was the only thing that
we had left. Nothing else. Everything else we have been robbed of. Hope was the
only thing that we can hope will help us get out of that situation, and obviously it did. >> Bill Benson: Well, thank you, Kana, for that question. Ruth, so after your liberation, you and Teresa
made your way home. Tell us how you returned to Mukačevo and what you found when you got
there. And about going there as well because you were getting messages related to your father,
I believe. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. Got a message from my dad when we passed Prague by train that he is at home. He
was liberated, he's at home, and he's waiting for anyone who survived to come home. And we did. We
met him and we were the only ones who survived with him. Needless to say, it was a glorious
moment. >> Bill Benson: Oh, absolutely. I can only imagine. But up until that point Ruth, when you reunited
with your father or you got the message from him, did you know that -- you must not have
known he was alive. >> Ruth Cohen: No. We had no idea. >> Bill Benson: No idea. When you left Auschwitz and went to those two
other camps, you were in a great deal of pain. And now that you were back home in Mukačevo
with your father and Teresa, you remained in serious pain and eventually you were diagnosed
with tuberculosis of the spine and went to a tuberculosis sanitarium in Slovakia. Tell us
what that was like for you, because you had been in a lot of pain during that whole time. >> Ruth Cohen: At first after a month of being at home I could just not suffer the pain. So
my father took me to Budapest to the children's hospital where they X-rayed me at least
three times a day, for 30 days, and could find absolutely nothing wrong with me that they
could -- just nothing wrong with me. And having been in bed at bed rest, I felt a little better
so my dad took me home. This was probably July... Yeah, July. And I started feeling
bad again and very, very much in pain. And so my father got in touch with my aunt in Hlohovec
in Czechoslovakia who knew people, doctors, others in the hospital in Bratislava where
my mother's best friend was also a doctor. They somehow got me a room but not until March. Now this... >> Bill Benson: That would have been March 1946. >> Ruth Cohen: '46, yes. But this was only November, so I stayed with my
aunt. In bed. She helped me, of course. And then I finally got to the hospital, where they again
tested me for about three months and then found that I had tuberculosis. And the only
thing that they could do for my body is to put me into a cast which
was about an inch thick, and it was a half cast that I was lying in. So I was not allowed to walk
for about 9 months, not to walk, not to sit up. Even eat lying down which I'm still doing because
of that. And I did get better. Within 9 months my weight was good. The pus in my
back had not continued to accumulate, and I was free to go home. So I ended up in Tatra Mountains
where tubercular people, patients, were being cured, completely cured, and I stayed there for
I think three months. >> Bill Benson: And that part of it was actually a good time for you, wasn't it? >> Ruth Cohen: Yes it was. I was feeling great. I did a lot of hiking, mountain climbing, dancing. These people
were fantastic. And the young lady in the white was my doctor, and that was me. >> Bill Benson: And that's you there with the others that were there with you. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, after this long period of hospitalization
and recuperation, you and your father came to the United States arriving in April 1948, with your
sister Teresa joining you six months later. What did it take for you to get to the United States,
and how was your adjustment to a whole new life in the U.S. for you? >> Ruth Cohen: Well I got here with
the help of my sister I must say. My dad did not speak Czech well enough but my sister did,
and she took care of all the necessary papers. My aunt and her husband and another uncle from the
United States sent us visas, sent us affidavits, and money for a ticket or the ticket, I'm not
sure. But my sister was the one who took care of absolutely everything. And then on the day she
went to pick up the passports, yes, she left some of her papers at home.
She had to go back and then come back which only took about 2 hours, we lived about an hour away
from Prague. And because of that she couldn't come with us. She came to the States six months later. >> Bill Benson: Essentially, the way you described it to me, that 2-hour gap when she went back cost about a
thousand places in line. >> Ruth Cohen: Right. >> Bill Benson: And that resulted in her not being able to come for six months after
you did, right? That's a lovely photo of you and your sister taken after the war. Do you
know, Ruth, how your father coped with such tragic losses including his wife, his son, and his other
family members? Do you know how he coped with that? >> Ruth Cohen: He never talked to me about anything other than
telling me -- I remember walking with him someplace and he was telling me how much he missed my mother,
my brother, his mother, and all his sisters and brothers. And that's all he ever told me, nothing
else. We knew he was suffering but he just did not talk about it. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, I have just one
last question for you today and that is, as we face an alarming rise in antisemitism around the
world, as well as Holocaust denial and distortion, please tell us what we can learn from what you
experienced during the Holocaust. >> Ruth Cohen: Whatever I talked about now is all about antisemitism,
about the terrible things that we Jews had to suffer. And I certainly hope that we are not
going to ever have to, we or anyone else, will ever have to suffer that again. I like to convey
my message to people to learn all they can about the past, the Holocaust and
prior to that, what led up to it. First thing started slowly and then they
ended up going faster and faster, and it was quite a life that I think we all have to
work to change. So again, we have to learn about it. We have to not permit anything like this to happen.
I don't know with what means, but we just have to. >> Bill Benson: Ruth, thank you so much for being our First Person
today. We are extraordinarily privileged to have you share, not only with us, but with everybody
you share what you experienced and the lessons that we must remember, we must learn. We are
so grateful to you. Thank you so much, Ruth. >> Ruth Cohen: Thank you. >> Bill Benson: I'd like to take a moment to
thank our donor. First Person is made possible through generous support
from the Louis Franklin Smith Foundation. Next week, our Museum will commemorate
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which marks the liberation of Auschwitz. Visit ushmm.org/ihrd for information and resources on how to
join us in honoring the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions
of other victims of Nazism. Thank you for watching today. We look forward to sharing
another First Person program with you next month.
