Irena Wygodzka with her sister Jadzia Mendelson one day after the liberation of the Oberaltstadt camp

Irena Wygodzka with her sister Jadzia Mendelson one day after the liberation of the Oberaltstadt camp

This is a picture of me with my younger sister Jadzia (Jadwiga) taken in the labor camp in Horejsi Stare Mesto (Oberaltstadt), one day after the liberation of the camp.

I was at the camp with my mother and sisters until the end of the war. And we all survived. My sisters worked very hard at that camp. Even the little one, Jadzia, she had to push these heavy carts with the cotton spools, she cleaned the toilets.

Mother worked on the machine for some time and later this 'Lagerführer' allowed her to work in the kitchen. It was easier, because she didn't have to go to the factory and there was one more plate of soup.

We were lucky that our camp was not evacuated, because during evacuations many people died of exhaustion, diseases. Almost all the surrounding camps were evacuated.

At the end we had to dig trenches before the Russians came. We were there until 8th May, even a little bit longer, because we didn't know where to go.

The Czech locked up this 'Lagerführer' and those SS-women. There were all put on trial later in Czechoslovakia. I even testified in the trial of our 'Lagerführer,' her name was Hoffman.

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