Irene Fogel Weiss ‘s Story
Irene Fogel Weiss (1930-)
Irene’s story of survival is one that should be told. Her story of survival is
very inspiring and she is such a strong woman.
She was born Irene Fogel on November 21, 1930 in Botragy, Czech Republic.
She was the fourth of six children. Her siblings were, Moshe, Edit,
Reuven, Gershon and Serena.
Her father, Meyer had a lumber business and her mother Leah stayed at
home, raising the children.
When the Nazis split the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Botragy came under
Hungarian rule. She grew up speaking Yiddish, and then she spoke
Hungarian.
Under Hungarian rule, they did the same thing that the Germans were
doing in Germany, excluding Jews and making their lives a living hell.
According to Irene, the village stayed pretty much the same, but the
surrounding villages began to change their attitudes towards their Jewish
neighbors.
Her father kept his job but only for a little while, but as restrictions
escalated, someone else claimed his business and he was jobless.
In 1942, her father was rounded up along with other Jewish men to do
forced labor. He was able to go home after six months.
Luckily, for her mother, she had a very large vegetable garden and farm.
She would barter the food with the neighbors to make ends meet.
Irene and her father were on a train one day and were targeted by some
young hooligans. They thought it would be fun if they threw her father off the train. No one on the train stood up for Irene or her father. Luckily, their stop was the next stop and they got off. Needless to say he
never rode the train again.
In 1944, the Hungarian Nazis began to round up the Jews and deport them.
Irene and her family were rounded up and taken to the Munkas Ghetto. In
the ghetto, there was overcrowding, disease and very little food. It was
ordered that all girls under the age of sixteen must have their heads
shaved or their families will be punished. Irene went and had her
beautiful hair shaved.
In May of 1944, Irene and her family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
When they arrived, their mother, older brother, and younger siblings were
taken immediately to the gas chambers.
Irene was standing there, holding her sister Edit’s hand and Edit was also
sent to the gas chamber. There was an iconic photo taken of the arrival
to Auschwitz, and to the left, is a girl in a coat with a scarf on around her
head standing there looking lost. That is Irene. She was lost figuring out
what to do, trying to find her parents amongst the crowd. Her older sister
Serena was sent in the direction of the young adults. where Irene shortly
joined her.
Irene’s head was already shorn, and her clothes were taken from her and
she was given a prisoner’s striped uniform. She and Serena were taken to the woman’s barracks, where they luckily found two aunts, Rose and Piri. They were selected to work in “Canada”.
“Canada” was the place where prisoners were forced to sort through the
Jews belongings and do inventory on it. “Canada” was located next to the
crematorium, so sadly, they witnessed all the Jews deaths there.
Irene’s aunt found out through someone that Irene’s father, who was
forced to be a sonderkommando, a person who WAS forced to remove
dead Jews from the gas chambers, put them into the fire and then dispose
of their ashes, that when he could no longer do this job, he was shot.
Irene, Serena, Rose and Piri worked in “Canada” for eight months until
January of 1945 when the Nazis forced them on a death march. They
arrived at Ravensbruck, a camp in Germany. They were not there for long
until the Nazis moved them to another camp. This time they were moved
to Neustadt-Glewe. This camp was a subcamp of Ravensbruck.
Irene’s aunt Piri became very sick and was murdered there.
When they were doing roll call, Irene and Serena who were so weak and exhausted,that the Nazis decided they would put Serena in a group of Jews whowould be sent to the gas chambers. Irene did not want to be left alone, so she volunteered to go in the same group as her sister. They waited in a room and waited for the trucks to come, but the trucks never arrived.
The Russian army was heading closer to the camps, and the Nazis fled
the camp. Many of the prisoners decided they would leave the camp,
since there were no guards or anyone holding them back. Irene, Serena
and their aunt Rose found shelter in an empty house nearby.
When the war ended, the three of them looked for relatives. They found
Uncle Joseph Mermelstien, and they found other aunts and uncles, but
unfortunately out of Irene’s immediate family, Irene and Serena were the
only ones who survived.
Irene and Serena lived with their relatives in the Sudetenland. Irene
attended a Czech school and Serena found work in a factory. Aunt Rose
came down with tuberculosis and had to remain at home.
With the help of relatives and the help of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society), Serena and Irene immigrated to the United States, where they
ended up in New York.
She met Martin Weiss and they married in 1949. They moved to northern
Virginia in 1953, where Irene decided she wanted to teach. She got a
degree in education and taught in the Fairfax County school system for
thirteen years. During that time, she made time to become a mother.
Irene has three children, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
She also began talking about her time in Auschwitz and became a
Survivor volunteer at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. She has
spoken to many college and high school students about her experiences
and wants to make sure that nothing like this happens again.
Irene has done many interviews for the United States Holocaust Museum
in Washington DC. She has done their First Person Program, a program in
which Holocaust survivors are interviewed in person or as of right now,
virtually.
Irene is a woman that is an inspiration to all. Even with all the chaos that
is going on right now, especially with the political messes and a
pandemic, her voice is louder than it has ever been. The world needs her voice and her story now more than ever.
