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Sitting in Sir Martin Gilbert’s library with his widow, Lady Esther Gilbert, and survivor’s son Ivan Sloboda, as Ivan translated the historic food document on the girls’ diet, remains one of the most powerful memories I have of working on this book. Surrounded by Sir Martin’s books, hearing names like Rudi Vrba’s being tossed around with the familiarity of dear friends, I had a “pinch myself” moment. Who ever thought a kid from Birmingham, Michigan, who used to think history class was a good place for a nap, would be among such giants of Holocaust history? I am very touched by the support Sir Martin Gilbert gave me when I was working on the new edition of Rena’S Promise, and that of Lady Esther Gilbert, who has been a champion of this project and encouraged me to chronicle the stories of the young women and girls of the first transport. I hope that the work I have done would make both Rudi and Martin proud.
I would like to thank Orna Tuckman, Tammy Forestater, Sharon Newman Ehrilchman, Avi Koren, Akiva Ischari, and Daniella and Jonathan Forestater for joining me on our journey through Slovakia and Poland, culminating in our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. To the director, cinematographer, and dear friend Stephen Hopkins—a.k.a. Hobbit—who filmed that entire journey for posterity, creating a documentary on the girls, thanks are small compensation for such stalwart work and tireless research. Next pint’s on me. I am also grateful to dearest Isabel Moros for connecting me to my translator, Martina Mra-zova from Levoa, who amid the academic pressures of her advanced degree work, donated her time translating massive quantities of Slovakian materials for me. Among my other translators and transcribers, thank you to Kathleen Furey, Gabriel Barrow, Esther Mathieu, Johnny Baeur, Pedro Oliveira, Shekar Gahlot and of course, Avi’s wonderful wife, Sara Isachari, for her ample donation of translating Hebrew testimonies. I am also indebted to Sara Gordon for reading through an early draft and to Oliver Payne at National Geographic, and his marvelous wife, Cindy Leitner, for all of your support and for introducing me to Kitry Krause, my excellent copyeditor, who worked round the clock with me fixing last-minute errors.
I need to thank the many relatives of girls on the first transport who gave me stories and photographs so we can know these young women as they really were in 1942—young and innocent. Thank you, Beni Greenman (cousin to Magda Amster); Peter Chudý (son of Klara Lustbader); Andrea Glancszpigel (granddaughter of Sara Bleich); Dasha Grafil (daughter of Linda—Libusha—Reich); Ilanna Lefovitz (daughter of Serena Lefkovitz); Donna Steinhorn (daughter of Marta Friedman); Celia Pretter and Belle Liss (daughters of Regina Schwartz); Judith Gold (daughter of Perel Fridman); Jeffrey Lautman (son of Bertha Berkowitz); Naomi Ickovitz (niece of Bertha Berkowitz, daughter of Fany); Ruth Wyse (daughter of Elena Zuckermenn); Vera Power (daughter of Regina Wald); Rosette Rutman (daughter of Ella Friedman and niece of Edie and Lila); Pavol Hell (nephew of Gertrude Klein-berger); Eva Langer (niece of Frida and Helena Benovicova); Ivan Sloboda (son of Judita); Sylvia Lanier and Joseph and Robert Gelissen (children of Rena Kornreich); Susan Hartmann Schwartz (niece of Nusi Hartmann, daughter of Eugene Hartmann); Diane Young (niece of Magduska Hartmann, daughter of Andrew Hartmann); Alena Giesche (friend of Ruzena Gräber Knieža); Cheryl Metcalf (on behalf of Ko-plowitz and Zeigler families); also, to Maya Lee (daughter of Magda Hellinger); Sara Cohen and Norman Brandel (daughter of Danka Kornreich Brandel), and Zuzana Kovacikova (niece of Dr. Manci Schwalbova). Thank you for sharing their lives with us. I apologize that I could not include more of your stories and theirs in this book.
THE HARDEST PART of this book was writing about the girls who did not survive. When the weight of their ghosts descended, Anita Thorn sent me spiritual pick-me-ups always at the right moment. I truly wish I could have found out what happened to Magduska and Nusi Hartmann, but they are representative of hundreds of thousands—no, millions—of mysteries that will never be resolved.
To the astrologers Molly McCord and Robert Wilkinson, thank you for helping me understand the issues around Himmler’s occult obsession and for taking my hunch seriously. Robert Wilkinson went beyond the dates I questioned seeking further back in time to find Goebbels’s own announcement of the Final Solution and revealing a deeper nefarious astrological connection than even I had imagined. Thank you both for your dedication and service to the girls.
Writing this book was emotionally trying at times, and I am so grateful for the support of my writers’ group, Suki, Felicia, and Connie, and my girlfriends, Lauren, Nicolette, and Tamara. To my brother, who was the first writer in the family, and put up with me disappearing for ten months while I hunkered down at my desk and ignored everyone, thank you for your constant encouragement and faith in me. And to my father, who does not always understood what I am doing but has been supportive nonetheless.
It was my writing partner, friend, and husband, Simon Worrall, who first insisted that I write this book. There were times when he regretted it. Thank you for translating German transcripts, speaking to archivists in Ravensbrück on my behalf, being my first reader, editor, and champion, cooking dinner, doing the dishes, bearing up with my erratic mood swings as I wrote through the grief that sometimes surrounded my desk, and most importantly for “dancing with me to the end of time.”
Finally, a shout-out to my favorite teenagers of the next generation: Josie Perl, who at fourteen has just finished writing her first novel, and ma petite Donna Snyder, who constantly amazes me with her talent, ingenuity, and straight A’s. You give my life more meaning than you know, and I am forever proud of who you are today and of who you are going to become.
Sisters Lea and Edith Friedman were two years apart in age.
“It was a holiday, probably Passover,” Edith says. “They look about fourteen, so it was about 1936.” The girls were friends, but Edith does not remember all their names. From left to right: an unidentified girl, Anna Herskovicova, another unidentified girl, Lea Friedman, and Debora Gross (Adela’s sister).
“We were a big family.” The Friedman children, circa 1936, left to right: Hermann, Edith, Hilda, Ruthie, Lea, and Ishtak.
In Memoriam
Magduska Hartmann grew up on the family farm with her cousins and brother, Eugene.
Magduska Hartmann’s cousins included her best friend and eldest cousin, Nusi, also known as Olga (far right). Also shown are Nusi’s siblings—Andrew (front), Bianca (far left), and Valika (back row, center). Olga, Valika, and their parents did not survive.
Maya (Magda) Hans was the younger sister of Ria Hans. Ria was forced to make a heartbreaking decision to protect Magda from being murdered by the SS.
Annou Moskovic (left) grew up down the street from Edith and Lea Friedman, and loved to visit their house on bread-making day. Zuzana Semerova (right) was one of Annou’s and Edith’s friends. She went into hiding and worked with partisans who resisted the Hlinka and Nazi regimes.
This photo was sent to family in America. We know nothing about Rozalia and Therezia Ziegler (back row) except that they were on the first transport and no one in their immediate family survived.
In Memoriam
The redheaded Adela Gross. It took her family seventy years to discover what happened to Adela in Auschwitz.
Lea Friedman (left) and Anna Herskovicova loved to go to the movies together.
This photograph was taken at a private school for girls in Presov, probably in 1938. The second girl in the back row is Klara Lustbader. In the front row, sitting at far right is Giora Shpira’s friend, Magda Amster. The other girls are unidentified, but many would have been on first transport.
On December 6, 1945, the Banders, part of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, brutally shot fifteen young Jews in Kolbasovo, Slovakia. Among those murdered was Gizzy Grummerova (center) from the first transport. Irena Fein is at left in this prewar photo.
Women of Humenné
On their way to Palestine in November 1945, Helena Citron (#1971; TsiporahTehori) and her sister, Ruzinka Grauber (Ornstein), traveled through Rome, where they posed for this photo with Italian soldiers.
Irena Fein (#1564; Ferencik), wanted to be a photographer when she grew up. She was good friends with Adela and Debora Gross, Margie Becker, and Lea and Edith.
Edith (#1970; far left), stands with arms folded. Sitting next to her is Margie Becker (#1019). To the right of the teacher, in white, is Lea wearing a veil. The girls were part of the cast in the annual Beth Jacob School theatrical production in Humenné, circa 1940.
Ria Hans (#1980; Elias), spent six months in a standing cell in Block 11, the Block of Death, for the crime of trying to save a fellow prisoner.
Edith’s school class. Of the nine Jewish girls in school, only three survived. Back row, left to right: Edith is second from left; Zena Haber is the tall girl in the middle; Lenka Treil is second from right. Middle row: second from left: Margita Anis; Zuzana Sermer on far right; next to her is Eicherl. Front row: far left is Srulovic; Ruzena Boruchovic in polka-dot dress; next to teacher on right, Irena Greenberger. (The rest of the girls are gentiles.)
Polish Women
The girls from Tylicz used to hike seven kilometers to the town of Krynica to collect water from the mineral springs there. Left to right: Danka Kornreich, Dina Dranger, Bear, Rena Kornreich (circa 1938).
This photo was taken on the farm where Dina Dranger (#1528; Vajda), lived in Provence after the war. Her cousins were Erna and Fela Dranger.
Rena promised their mother she would take care of her little sister. Danka and Rena Kornreich (#2775 and #1716; Brandel and Gelissen), in Holland, a few months after liberation.
Ida Eigerman (#1930; Newman), was from Nowy Sacz and worked in the sorting detail known as “Canada.”
Sara Bleich (#1966; Glancszpigel) grew up in the spa town of Krynica. She emigrated to Argentina after the war. Her granddaughter wrote, “I never saw her smiling like that. I’m not sure she was ever that girl. This is our way to honor her.”
Erna Dranger (#1718; Koren) was Rena Kornreich’s best friend growing up in Tylicz.
Fela Dranger (#6030; Ischari) had several breakdowns after the war.
Women of Prešov
Magda Moskovic (#1297; Bittermanová) returned and settled in Slovakia after the war.
Joan Rosner (#1188; Weintraub) was one of the Jewish hostages released as part of Count Bernadotte Folke’s negotiations with Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.
Klara Lustbader (#1808; Chudy) lived near the Great Synagogue in Prešov after the war.
Matilda Friedman (#1890; Hrabovecká) wrote the book Ruka s Vytetovanym Cislom (Arm with a Tattooed Number).
Ruzena Gräber Knieža (#1649; shown here, postwar, with her husband, author Emil Knieža) went to school with Edith in Humenné.
Perel Kaufman (#1461; Fridman) was subjected to medical tests by Dr. Mengele, who injected her with malaria and other illnesses.
Women of Prešov
Magda Friedman (#1087; Ziegler) was first cousin to Ella and Edie Friedman.
This photo, taken in their hometown, Kapušany, shows (left to right) Edie Friedman (#1749; Valo), Ella Friedman (#1750; Rutman), and others, circa 1938.
Minka Friedman (#1174; Weiss) was close friends with Marta F. (#1796; Gregor).
Klára Herz (#1354; Baumöhlava) was in Bergen-Belsen with Bertha Berkowitz and was friends with Klara Lustbader after the war.
Marta F. (#1796; Gregor) was subjected to experimentation and made sterile. Her daughter, Orna Tuckman, was adopted.
Kato (Katarina) Danzinger (#1843; Prinz) with her husband and their daughter, postwar.
Linda Reich (#1173; Breder) lost her parents, sister, and three brothers (one of them her twin) to the gas chambers in Auschwitz.
Young Women of the Stropkov Region
Matzo making with the Berkowitz family and friends, Pesach, 1940. Only two people in this photo survived. Far left, standing in a white apron is Peshy Steiner, Bertha’s best friend; behind Peshy is Bertha (#1048). The next four standing are an unidentified young woman, then two of Bertha’s sisters, Lily and Magda, and Peshy’s sister in a white apron holding a roller. In front of the young women are Bertha’s mother, dressed in black, and Peshy’s mother, beside her. Sitting and holding the large bowl is Bertha’s brother, Volvi. The only other survivor besides Bertha is Herschel Einhorn, standing at far right in the middle row with a cap on and a cocky smile. Bertha’s surviving only sister, Fany, and brother, Emil, are not in this photo.
The wedding of Regina Tannenbaum (#1397; Wald) was the first Jewish marriage in her hometown after the war.
Peggy Friedman (#1019; Kulik) is the young girl, sitting front and center, in this photo taken circa 1935. None of her family survived.
The Kleinman family in Breznica, Slovakia, circa 1935. Back row, left to right: Ruzena (#1033; Guttmann), who walked with Peggy Kulik on their way their way to the first transport and remained her friend after the war. Next to Ruzena are her siblings Josef, Tonci Berkovic, Max, Malvina, and Adolf. Front row: their parents, Aron and Ester. Adolf and another brother, Irving (not pictured), survived.
Women of Poprad
Fanny and Eta Zimmerspitz (#1755 and #1756) carried injectable poisons in their shoes to use if they were ever selected to go to the gas chamber. Eta looked so much like Roza (below) she was nearly arrested with her cousins. They are shown here postwar, circa 1946.
This prewar photo was taken when Edith “Rose” Grauber (#1371; Goldman) was about 15 years old; she is wearing braids and standing behind her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her mother, Hermina, is at far right. None of her immediate family survived.
A neighbor of Marta Mangel (#1741; Marek), shown here in a prewar photo, hid Marta’s mother’s silver candlesticks in the backyard and returned them to Marta after the war. Marta’s family continues to use the candlesticks in their traditional observances.
Piri Randova-Slonovicova (#1342; Skrhová) was born in Levoa, 8 kilometers from where Ivan Rauchwerger lived. She was sixteen years old when she was deported.
Roza Zimmerspitz (#1487) was executed with her three sisters in 1943.
The Zimmerspitz cousins were caught trying to escape and were executed. From left to right: Malvina, Margit, Hector the dog, and Frida (#1548, who “had a big mouth”), circa 1926.
Women of Michelovce
The Schwartz children lost their mother when they were young. This photo was taken at her grave before the war. From left to right: Magda (Mimi), Celia, Helen, Ignatz, Regina (sitting). Helen and Ignatz did not survive.
Regina Schwartz (#1064; Pretter) was sixteen when she was deported.
Alice Iscovic (#1221; Burianov) stands at far right with her family. None of her family survived
Dr. Manci (Manca) Schwalbova (#2675) did her best to care for the women in Auschwitz. Here she is shown with a young patient (her niece, Zuzana) at the Pediatric Hospital, in Bratislava, Slovakia, in the 1960s.
“The Angel of Auschwitz,” Orli Reichert (#502; Wald) was arrested in 1936 and served nine years as a political prisoner. She was forced to work under Dr. Mengele. Two books have been published about her in Germany. She suffered from severe depression after the war and tried to commit suicide multiple times.
This propaganda photo shows “Prisoners in the Aufräumungskommando [order commandos] unload and sort the confiscated property of a transport of Jews from Subcarpathian Rus at a warehouse in Auschwitz-Birkenau.” Linda Reich (#1173, shown at center) is bending over. The SS photographer insisted that she smile so that he could show the photo to the Red Cross.
In order to get them safely back to Slovakia, two Czech men in Prague, Frantischek and Bedrich, organized this group to accompany female survivors and protect them from sexual violence on the journey home. Among the women in the group are Fanny and Eta Zimmerspitz (#1755 and #1756, far right, third and fifth row) and their cousin, Marta Mangel (#1741, far right, front row). Others from the first transport may be in this photo, taken in May or June 1945.
Bergen-Belsen was liberated on April 15, 1945, the day this photo was snapped. Bertha Berkowitz (#1048; Lautman) is the girl in the center.
At center, wearing a black dress with white collar, Ida Eigerman (#1930; Newman) concentrates on her knitting in a displaced persons camp in Pocking, Germany, after liberation. “Mom was always knitting,” her daughters say.
