IN MEMORY OF MY PARENTS, MAX AND HELEN ZISOVIC

Survival is the biggest victory for Holocaust survivors, with many small victories along the way. Mom was much more open and verbal about her survival discussing the horrors, fears and atrocities she witnessed and experienced first hand. Dad on the other hand was silent and much more reserved since the scars of the war and his experiences ran deep. They never fully healed from their experiences and personal losses. Mom endured and survived a ghetto and five concentration camps, while Dad endured and survived several forced labor battalions. As a docent at the Holocaust Museum LA, I often explain that Mom’s survival can be attributed to her will to live, being in the right place at the right time, making the right decision at the right time, faith, common sense, sheer luck, and she was young and strong. Dad’s survival can be attributed to his faith and his yearning to be reunited with his family in addition to him being an extremely physically strong man. They both lived with PTSD, a mental health condition that arises from extremely stressful and/or terrifying events.

Small Victories:
Prior to Mom’s deportation to the Auschwitz concentration clamp in Poland, her father imparted a crucial message. He said to her that he and her mother would not return, but she would. She carried his words and voice with her throughout her experiences, which provided the strength and resolve needed to persevere and ultimately survive. Factors such as luck and an unwavering will to live played a significant role in her survival.

Upon her arrival in Auschwitz Mom was selected to join a group of able bodied women, while other women were directed elsewhere to go to the gas chambers. This selection provided Mom with a chance to survive, purely by luck.

During her time in Auschwitz Mom left the barracks every morning to work regardless of how she felt, as those who remained behind would never be seen or heard from again. Her determination to survive, coupled with common sense and her ability to make the right decisions at critical moments, was paramount.

In Auschwitz Mom developed an illness and was sent to the concentration camp hospital. While Mom was in the hospital Adolf Eichmann walked in and told the women to stand up, strip down naked and then line up in two rows within the hospital ward. Of the approximate 300 women lined up in the hospital, Eichmann selected three women to go back to their barracks. Mom was one of them. The remaining women were led into special vans where they were murdered. These women were gassed with carbon monoxide from the specially equipped Red Cross gas chamber vans. These specialized vans were commonly referred to as “Sonderwagen,” “Spezialwagen,” or “Entlausungswagen.”

When Mom went back to her barracks others wondered if she was a ghost as very few prisoners survived the hospital. This was purely random luck.

During Mom’s time in the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, she developed an unbearable earache from the severe cold and biting wind. She was sent to the hospital and the staff treated her ear and she was released. Afterwards she suffered an unprovoked beating by a German guard to the side of her head. This beating caused her ear wound to open. This injury caused pus to ooze from her ear and then Mom squeezed out more pus from the infected area, which she believed led to her ear to heal. Again examples of luck, Mom’s will to live, and common sense.

During Mom’s internment in Ravensbruck, she worked in a basement loading vegetables on trucks for the SS. She was able to very carefully eat a little piece of a vegetable now and then for a few weeks. Mom had to be extremely careful not to be caught. If she was caught, she would have been punished which most likely would have been death. Again examples of luck, Mom’s will to live, making the right decision at the right time, and being in the right place at the right time.

Mom was then deported to the Leitmeritz concentration camp outside Poland and Germany. From Leitmeritz Mom was forced on a death march to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. This march took a few days and was only at night time. Mom did not have shoes, but was extremely lucky that a woman had given her rags and ties. Mom was able to tie these rags to her feet to provide some protection from the snow, but her feet still suffered nerve damage caused by frostbite which resulted in chronic foot pain for the rest of her life. The prospect of possibly losing her feet deeply distressed and depressed her, and upon learning this I was equally horrified. Luck, that someone in the camp gave her the rags.

Mom was liberated from Theresienstadt by Russian Soldiers on May 8, 1945, ironically the day Germany surrendered. The camp survivors asked the liberating Russian soldiers for food, and the Russian soldiers responded they were hungry as well and told the survivors to go down a road to where the Germans had abandoned their homes and the camp survivors could take anything they wanted. Many survivors got extremely sick and, in some instances, died from “refeeding syndrome,” which is a condition that occurs when people who have been starving are reintroduced to food too quickly. Luckily Mom ate only bread and raw potatoes. Again, examples of luck, being at the right place at the right time, and making the right decision at the right time. Also, Mom was gifted with common sense.

Dad was a young and physically strong individual, which contributed to his survival in the labor battalions. It was fortunate that he possessed such genetics. Dad was sustained by the hope of reuniting with his father, wife and three children. He attributed his survival to both fortunate circumstances and a strong will to live. After liberation he went home only to discover that his family had been murdered in Auschwitz.

My parents met shortly after they were liberated and were married in November 1945.  Recognizing the impending governance by communism, they made the decision to leave. They left their small rural farm villages in Czechoslovakia and made their way to Prague, their city of departure to the United States. During their journey to Prague they crossed European borders illegally without proper documentation, often having to evade border guards, and my sister was born along the way. Their successful emigration to the United States was due to their timely and prudent decisions, as well as a measure of good fortune, including luck, making the right decisions at the right time, and common sense.

Major Victories:
Mom would show her Auschwitz arm tattoo, A-7922, to everyone. I believe this was her way of showing that she survived and provided her with a sense of victory.

In November 1948 my parents arrived in the United States and initially stayed with Dad’s sister in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I was born. After a few months, along with my two-year old sister, we traveled by train to Los Angeles where my brother was born.

My parents arrived in Los Angeles where they reconnected with family members who had settled there before, or arrived after, the Holocaust. They secured housing and later purchased a home. Dad obtained employment and eventually established a shoe repair business on Fairfax Avenue for over twenty years. Mom worked alongside him, contributing to his specialty in crafting orthopedic shoes.

My parents created a nurturing and loving environment for our family. They were diligent in their efforts, ensuring that all our needs were met. My parents were extremely protective of myself and my siblings. We always had delicious old school Eastern European meals. My mother was the best cook, and we enjoyed family dinners together every evening.

My parents maintained their religious practices. Their faith provided them with the strength to endure and persevere. They attended synagogue, observed holidays and the Jewish Sabbath every Saturday, which is a day for prayer, reflection and rest. They also enrolled us in Hebrew school.

In Conclusion, Additional Major Victories:
My parents endured the Holocaust, and ultimately created a loving family. They had three children, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Their courageous survival is the reason for our existence. I am honored and grateful to be part of their legacy and to share their stories with future generations.