Teens get answers to their questions from Survivors of the Holocaust:

Q: When were you taken to a concentration camp and what were your experiences there.

G.C. provided the following information:
I am from Hungary and was taken into the camps when I was 17 years old.. The Germans came into Hungary in April 1944 and by May all of the Jews were rounded up. After being admitted to Auschwitz I was sent to C camp in Birkenau. This camp was for women between the ages of 17 and 35. There was no work in the camp for the women other than sometimes serving the soup and distributing the bread. An small extra ration was offered to those who would drag the dead bodies from the barracks to the crematoriums. This was not a task that I could do. There was no factory at Birkenau and most of the time was spent twice a day in endless roll calls and selections. My father was sent to the men's work camp on arrival. The men were sent to the mines and those that survived the hard work and meager rations returned to Auschwitz. The whole group, skeletons that the men were, was selected for the crematoria. After 6 to 7 months I was sent to a small work camp. There was a factory at the camp and the women all worked in the factory. In one selection, 500 of the 1000 women were selected to be killed. My mother was one of those selected as she was deemed too old but she managed to hide and by some miracle survived the camp. Shortly before liberation I was sent to another camp near the Czechoslovakia border. Just before liberation, the Germans said the Russians were coming and pleaded with the women not to harm them (the Germans) when they were liberated. The Russians were feared by the women as the Russians had a reputation for raping women. I spoke Czech and a few friends and I sought refuge across the Czech border with a farm family.

Q :Any organized attempts at your camp?

You have to be joking. We were too starved and weak to do anything.

Q:. Although we can never know the divine plan, what did you personally attribute your experience to - how did the holocaust alter your perception of hashem, if at all?

Two years ago I was interviewed for a TV program "Efo Haya Elokim?" (where was G_d?) The hardest question they asked me was If you would meet G_d now, what you say to him. I recoiled from that question. I must see I never doubted Hashem, even in Auschwitz. I never said that there was no G_d. I have since thought about the questions, what would I ask. I would ask about the one and half million children that were killed. I think about my uncle, my mother's oldest brother. He lost 60 members of his family--none survived. I would also ask about the family next door. I can say my neighbor Chaina with her daughter Florie and little Yankele and Mottele. I see them all walking away. On this show they had five or six survivors. Among the group there were those that had faith and kept it, such as myself. There were also people who had no faith and developed faith after the camps and those that lost faith. All possibilities happened. 

Q: What to you see as the future of Jews in the Diaspora? Is there a place for us outside of Israel bearing in mind the pogroms and massacres of history?

As to the fate of the Jewish people, I am more concerned about intermarriage and assimilation than about pogroms and massacres. Assimilation is a tremendous problem and people without a religious affiliation are in real danger. 

Q: Do you have any views as to the "reason" behind the holocaust - although of course we cannot KNOW, some argue things such as "We needed it to get Israel" and "the European Jews were too assimilated - it was a punishment" -can you, a survivor justify your experience in these terms? How do you feel when people try to give a "divine reasoning" to your suffering?

Nobody can presume to see Hashem's face. The long term goal is hidden from us. We, from our perspective, can't know. It was an unbearable tragedy but as a religious Jew I believe that all of Hashem's actions are purposeful. We just don't know and can't understand the purpose.

Q:How did you feel about the movie - "Life is Beautiful" of Roberto Beneni ?
Neta Ilan
Send an answer to Neta

Teens, send in your questions or if you are a survivor we would appreciate your answers to these questions.
A good website to visit for more information on  the Holocaust is http:// www.amcha.org