Meine Lebensgeschichte 1941-1945

Hildegard’s 1945 and 1967 memoirs are written as diaries. The 1945 memoir was translated from Czech to German by Heinz Koenig. Hildegard describes her experience of deportation and her life in concentration camps. In December 1941, her family was summoned to the collection point in Prague. However, her sick mother Irma and twin sister Ingeborg were permitted to remain in Prague. Hildegard and her father Karl Taussig were deported on Transport N to Theresienstadt, where they were separated. Hildegard registered for a women's labor group and was sent to the Krivoklat Forest for two months. Difficult circumstances of the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Obtaining contact with her father. On May 18, 1944, Hildegard and her father were deported on Transport Eb to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The horror of the arrival and worrying about her father's fate. The number A-4622 was tattooed on Hildegard’s arm. Dreadful circumstances and constant hunger. Hildegard was selected for slave labor and transported to concentration camp Christianstadt in Niederschlesien, Germany. Difficult parting from her father. Deportation in cattle trains without knowing about their fate. Hard labor under harsh, sickening conditions in a munitions factory.On February 2/3, 1945, the camp was dissolved and the women were marched in the cold and snow. After four days of exhaustion, Hildegard escaped together with another girl. They found refuge in Birkenstedt, where a woman gave them food and allowed them to stay. German soldiers arrived at the place and took them to the mayor. They were questioned and asked to prove their German citizenship. Using the pseudonym Hilda Lehmann, she invented a story that they were Germans who had fled from the bombed Sudetengau. Again questioning, but this time an SS officer believed them and they could go. They were sent to a factory in Weisswasser. Constant danger of being discovered. Acquaintance with a young woman from her factory. Escape from the approaching Russians. Taking refuge from air raids. Liberation by the Americans in May 1945.Transcript of the original manuscript by Detlef LorenzFootnotes by Detlef Lorenz and Miriam Friedman MorrisTranslation from Czech parts by Heinz KönigHildegard Taussig was living with her family in Prague. On December 17, 1941, at the age of 19 years, she was deported to Theresienstadt. Hildegard survived the concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau and Christianstadt. After the camp was dissolved in early 1945, Hildegard escaped from the Death March and lived in hiding until the end of the war.WeisswasserCzechoslovakiaGermanyDeportationForced laborHolocaust--Life in hidingHolocaust survivor