Jews were banned from attending school, businesses were confiscated, Jewish men were inducted to forced labor brigades

Her father was conscripted to forced labor in 1942/Returned six months later

Family was sent to Munkács ghetto, an overcrowded brick factory

Girls under 16 were forced to shave their heads

May 1944: her family, along with 425.000 other Jews, were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau

Upon arrival, her mother and four siblings were killed

Her father was forced to remove corpses from gas chambers and cremate them

when he could no longer perform his work, the SS shot him

January 1945: SS forcibly evacuated Irene and other surviving family members to Ravensbrück concentration camp

Soviet troops approached/SS guards left the camp

Return to Prague/Irene and her sister were the only surviving children

1947: Irene, her sister Serena and aunt Rose migrated to the United States

Lest We Forget Washington, D.C. 11-05-2018