Holocaust remembrance: Survivor, born in Nazi concentration camp, recounts early years
WARNING -- This article contains details some may find distressing
Angela Orosz is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. On Dec. 21, 1944, she was born in a concentration camp.
"In Grade 1, or Grade 2, in Hungary. You have to write (in school) where you were born,” she said, recounting the moment she started coming to terms with just how different her upbringing had been from other children.
"I couldn’t spell ‘Auschwitz.'"
Orosz described her childhood for a packed house at the Montreal Holocaust Museum on Thursday during a public interview with former CTV National News Anchor Lisa LaFlamme. The event took place on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
She described her family’s life in Hungary well before she was born, prior to Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and the beginning of the Holocaust.
Between 1941 and 1945, Nazis and collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. More than two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population was killed.
Angela Orosz, who was born in Auschwitz-Birkenau, tells her story to a crowded audience during a talk at the Montreal Holocaust Museum moderated by Lisa LaFlamme on Jan. 26, 2023.
Her mother, Vera, came from an educated family. Orosz said her grandmother had passed down four languages — French, German, Slovak, Hungarian — and exposed her mother to classical music from a young age. She met Orosz's father, Tibor, a lawyer, and the two made a life for themselves in Sárospatak, in northeastern Hungary.
Hungarian authorities collaborated with the Nazis through the deportation of thousands of Jews to German-occupied Ukraine, "with full knowledge of the fate that awaited them," according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 1942, nearly 1,000 Jews were murdered by Hungarian officials.
Two years later, in May, they came for Orosz's parents. Vera was three months pregnant.
"They said, 'In an hour, you get ready. We’re going to take you to a better place,'" she said.
Tibor was killed after he was separated from Vera on the platform in transit to Auschwitz. That was the last time Vera saw her husband and father of her unborn child.
Six months later, Orosz was born on the top bunk of a cramped sleeping quarter over a thin bed of straw. She says her mother told her that a mere three hours after giving birth, she had to be standing for the camp’s regular roll calls.
At just one pound, she was born too weak to cry, she said — something that may well have saved her life. Her mother hid her on the top bunk for six weeks.
She says she believes her birth inspired her mother to survive until the camp was liberated on Jan. 27, 1945.
SURVEY PROMPTS PLEA FOR AWARENESS ABOUT HOLOCAUST
Orosz has told her story many times, and has said she’s motivated to educate young people so that the atrocities of the past don’t happen again.
"Her story is so unique," said the museum’s spokesperson Sarah Fogg, calling it an example of "incredible resilience" and "strength."
"We hope that we’ll be able to continue to promote this message of Holocaust awareness in order to build a better world," she said, "because there is a direct link … between Holocaust education and the prevention of antisemitism."
A recent survey by the Azrieli Foundation found that more than half of surveyed millennials could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto.
Nearly two in 10 told researchers they either hadn’t heard of the Holocaust or weren’t sure if they had heard of it.
Nearly a quarter of all Canadians believed that substantially less than six million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Doctors combine a pig kidney transplant and a heart device in a bid to extend woman's life
Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.