Blanka Rothschild
Nació: 1922, en Lodz, Polonia
Describe las deportaciones del ghetto de Lodz [Entrevista: 1994]
When we walked through the ghetto to work after the entire ghetto was empty, it was a very weird feeling. Empty streets, open windows, flowing curtains blowing with the wind. No people. Once we thought that we saw a glimmer of somebody in the window, or a candle or something and, of course, we averted our eyes not to give away to the German escorts that somebody was there. In November of 1944 came our time, we had to be taken out. The entire population of our hospital was walked to the place where the cattle cars were, and we were loaded. It was a horrible thing because people had to stand. There was no place to sit or squat. If somebody was sick or even dying, he died on his feet standing up. It was just unbearable. Water was the worst...the lack of water, the thirst was the worst.
When we walked through the ghetto to work after the entire ghetto was empty, it was a very weird feeling. Empty streets, open windows, flowing curtains blowing with the wind. No people. Once we thought that we saw a glimmer of somebody in the window, or a candle or something and, of course, we averted our eyes not to give away to the German escorts that somebody was there. In November of 1944 came our time, we had to be taken out. The entire population of our hospital was walked to the place where the cattle cars were, and we were loaded. It was a horrible thing because people had to stand. There was no place to sit or squat. If somebody was sick or even dying, he died on his feet standing up. It was just unbearable. Water was the worst...the lack of water, the thirst was the worst.
Blanka era hija única en una familia muy unida de Lodz, Polonia. Su padre murió en 1937. Después de la invasión alemana de Polonia, Blanka y su madre se quedaron en Lodz con la abuela de Blanka que no podía viajar. Junto con otros parientes, fueron forzadas a vivir en el ghetto de Lodz en 1940. Ahí, Blanka trabajaba en una panadería. Ella y su madre luego trabajaron en un hospital del ghetto de Lodz, donde se quedaron hasta el fin de 1944 cuando fueron deportadas al campo de Ravensbrueck en Alemania. Blanka fue forzada a trabajar en una fabrica de aviones (Arado-Werke). Su madre fue mandada a otro campo. Las fuerzas soviéticas liberaron a Blanka en la primavera de 1945. Blanka, que estaba viviendo en casas abandonadas, se volvió a Lodz. Descubrió que ninguno de sus parientes, incluyendo su madre, había sobrevivido. Blanka se fue luego a Berlín, y eventualmente a un campo de refugiados. Emigró a los Estados Unidos en 1947.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
