Irene Weiss

Irene Weiss

(Irene Weiss Present-Day pointing to her Arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 right after being Selected to do Forced Labor by the Germans.)

Irene Weiss was born Perl Ruchel Fogel on November 21, 1930, in Bótrágy, Czechoslovakia (Present Day: Batrad’, Ukraine.)

Her Father, Meyer Fogel, owned a Lumber Yard.

Her Mother, Leah Fogel, was a Housewife and cared for Irene and her five Siblings—Serena, Moshe, Edit, Reuven, and Gershon.

In March 1938 Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia.

In November 1938, the Nazis gave Bótrágy to their Collaborators Hungary.

The Hungarians enacted Anti-Jewish Laws similar to Germany’s Nuremberg laws.

In 1941, Bótrágy had 1,421 Inhabitants of whom 72 were Jews.

In 1942, the Hungarians sent Irene’s Father to do Forced Labor for 6 months.

In March 1944 Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Hungary (when it looked like the Country was trying to Surrender to the Allies.)

In April 1944 the Nazis forced Irene and her Family into the Munkács Ghetto (which was at the "Shiyovitz" Brick Factory and never intended to house People.)

14,000 of People lived in the Munkács Ghetto.

The only Bathroom was a Trench dug outside.

The Nazis forced all Girls under 16 years old, including Irene, to shave their heads.

In May 1944, 13 year old Irene and her Family were deported from the Ghetto to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland.

Upon Arrival Irene’s Father and Brother, Moshe, were separated from the Women.

Irene’s Father was forced to be in the Sonderkommando.

The Sonderkommando were Prisoners forced by the Germans to live and work in the Gas Chamber and Crematorium.

They helped the new Arrivals off the Trains and into the Undressing Room before they went into the Gas Chamber where the Germans poured Zyklon B Gas and murdered them.

The Sonderkommando then had to remove the dead bodies, clean the Gas Chamber and burn the bodies in the Crematorium.

Irene’s Father was murdered by the Germans while working in the Sonderkommando.

Irene’s Mother and Three Siblings were immediately sent to the Gas Chamber where they were gassed to death and their bodies burned within the hour.

Usually, the Germans immediately murdered everyone under 15 years old, but 13 year old Irene was lucky and selected to live for the moment.

Irene and her Sister, Serena, were selected for Forced Labor.

Irene, Serena, and two Maternal Aunts (Rose and Piri Mermelstein), worked in the “Kanada.”

“Kanada” was the Section of Auschwitz near the Gas Chambers where Prisoners sorted all the Clothes and Belongings of those murdered so they could be sent to German Families to use.

Irene worked in “Kanada” for 8 months until January 1945 when she was one of the 58,000 Prisoners from Auschwitz that were made to go on a Death March (anyone who slowed down or stopped were immediately killed by the Germans.)

Irene went to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp in Germany before going to the Neustadt-Glewe Sub-Camp.

Her Aunt Piri was killed at the Sub-Camp.

When Irene’s Sister, Serena, was selected to be killed Irene told the Germans that they were Sisters and asked to go with her.

Both of them were kept in a Locked Barrack waiting for a Transport Truck to take them to the Gas Chamber.

Before the Transport Truck could arrive the Soviets liberated the Sub-Camp.

Irene was 15 years old when she was liberated.

(13 year old Irene Weiss upon Arrival at the Auschwitz Death Camp in Germany-Occupied Poland after being selected for Forced Labor.)

Irene, Serena and their Aunt Rose went to Prague, Czechoslovakia (Present Day: Prague the Czech Republic) to look for any Family Members that may have survived.

In Prague Irene found her Uncle Joseph who had immigrated to Palestine (Present Day: Israel) before the War and later joined the Czechoslovak Unit of the British Army.

Irene, Serena, and Rose lived together in Teplice-Šanov in western Czechoslovakia.

Irene attended a Czech School.

Serena worked in a Factory, and their Aunt Rose remained at home, with Tuberculosis.

All three of them immigrated to the United States in 1947.

Irene married Martin Weiss in 1949 and they moved to northern Virginia in 1953.

She earned a Degree in Education from American University and taught at the Fairfax School District for 13 years.

Her Husband, Martin, died in January 2013.

Irene has three Children, six Grandchildren, and 3 Great-Grandchildren.

Decades after the Holocaust, Irene saw her 13 year old self in a picture as she arrived at the Auschwitz Death Camp with her Family.

The picture was part of the Auschwitz Album.

The Auschwitz Album (Originally titled "Resettlement of the Jews from Hungary" or in German: Umsiedlung der Juden aus Ungarn), it shows a period when the Nazis accelerated their Deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in the Summer of 1944.

The pictures were taken by the SS Identification Service and the Album contains 56 pages with 193 photographs that show the process at Auschwitz from Arrival, Selection, those selected to die walking to the Gas Chamber and those selected to do Forced Labor being processed.

The Album was found by Lili Jacob (later Lili Jacob- Zelmanovic Meier.)

Lili was 18 years old when she was transported from her home in Hungary to Auschwitz in May 1944 with her Parents and Brothers.

 It was her train that the SS decided to take pictures of.

Lili was selected to do Forced Labor while the rest of her Family were selected to die in the Gas Chambers.

Lili was sent to various Camps after Auschwitz and was at the Dora Concentration Camp (400 miles from Auschwitz) when she was liberated.

While recovering from an illness in a vacated SS Barracks Lili opened a cupboard and found the Auschwitz Album full of pictures of her, her Family and her Friends.

The Auschwitz Album was donated by Lili Jacob to Yad Vashem in Israel in 1980.

Lili Jacob- Zelmanovic Meier died on December 17, 1999.