Olga Horak
Encyclopedia
Olga Horak is an author and Holocaust survivor.
Born in 1926 to Piroska Weiss (1905–1945) and Hugo Rosenberger (1894–1944), she was transported by the Nazis to Auschwitz in 1944 and later, in 1945, to Bergen-Belsen
. She was the sole survivor of her family. Her sister, Judith (1925–1942) died in Auschwitz in 1942 after being one of the first Jews
transported from Bratislava. Her father was transported to Auschwitz in 1944 and her mother died the day after Belsen was liberated by the British on 15 April 1945.
She and her husband John Horak emigrated to Australia
in 1949 and established the Hibodress garment factory. In 2000, she wrote her memoirs Auschwitz to Australia.
and lived in Bratislava with her family for her first 13 years. In 1939, the Nuremberg Laws
were passed in Slovakia and the Second World War started. She and her older sister, Judith, were unable to continue their schooling at Zivnodom, a German high school. She was forced to wear the Star of David
on her chest. She says, "I was not ashamed to wear the star ... I was endangered on the street where some people abused me with foul language and bodily harm."
On 21 March 1942, the Germans
ordered all Bratislava's single Jews born before 1925 to report to the local train station to 'finally do some work'. Olga's sister Judith boarded a train with 994 other Jewish teenagers, and was taken to Auschwitz. She was killed two weeks before her 17th birthday.
After living under increasing hardship and with the constant fear of being deported, Horak's parents made the decision to escape Slovakia and go to Hungary
.
, a village on the Hungarian border. There, they met a guide who took them across the border. They would walk all night before finally reaching a small Hungarian village at dawn.
They sought rest at a small cottage before catching a train to Budapest
. They found a small room to rent under the supervision of another Jewish family, the Königs. They never found out about Olga's true heritage, as the family always used the excuse that Horak's father needed medical treatment in Budapest. Horak slept on a stretcher bed on the floor.
In late August 1944, the Germans invaded Slovakia. Eugene, a cousin of Horak and a young solicitor who worked with the underground, was pushed from the third story of a building in broad daylight. With the invasion of the Germans came more deportations to death camps. In early August 1944, Horak and her family were told to go to Marianka
, another area outside of Bratislava. After two weeks, a group of SS guards and Hlinka Guard
s surrounded the building.
, a collection point for Slovakian Jews located 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) northeast of Bratislava. There the commander, Alois Brunner
, would entertain himself by shooting prisoners at random.
Horak, her parents, her grandmother and about 120 other people, were shoved into a cattle truck that normally would have held eight horses. Horak does not know how long she was in the train to Auschwitz but says:
Horak had arrived at Auschwitz, where she underwent Selektion. Horak was separated from her father after they came off the train. She never saw him again. Horak, her mother, and the remaining female members of her family who were at Sered, were forced to strip and to pass an inspection done by Doktor Josef Mengele
. Horak and her mother were sent to the right; the ones sent to the left were killed.
Horak was at Auschwitz until October 1944. One morning, after Appell (roll call
), Horak and some 1,000 other female prisoners were told not to return to the barracks. She feared the worst, but as she puts it, "At this point, I didn’t care anymore. They could have done what they liked."
Horak recalls: "Everyday I prayed that help would come, either from heaven or from the Allies". During one roll call, just after Christmas 1944, the prisoners were ordered to form columns, five abreast, and to start marching. It would be a long time before they stopped.
were near. The SS guards pushed them, even though they were visibly weak. The soldiers said, "Anyone who stops will be shot". So everyone marched. Horak's cousins, Lilly and Trude, were at the end of their strength. Lilly was suffering from a severe cold, high temperature and a bad earache. They fell out of the column and sat by the road. Horak and her mother tried, in vain, to get them up but they would not move. Horak says, “They had taken enough and were beyond caring what happened to them.” So they kept walking, fearing the worst. An hour later, Russian forces found them by the side of the road.
Horak and her mother had marched for nearly 375 kilometres before arriving in Dresden
. There they were shoved, once again, into cattle cars. Before the train left, they were caught up in one of the three air raids
by the British Royal Air Force
over Dresden. "During the raid, we watched as the bombs fell like manna from heaven. We were not scared, even as shrapnel flew around us..." Within a few minutes of the raid's end, the train was moving again. They were on their way to Bergen-Belsen
, with no food or water for the 500 kilometres (310.7 mi) journey.
On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen’s residents lined up for roll call; nobody came. Suddenly, they became aware of the situation around them, hearing the noise of tanks. There were no SS guards in sight. As the hum got closer they realised that the noise was of British tanks.
Within hours of securing the camp, they brought in DDT to delouse the survivors. They also brought in food and left it outside the barracks. But after years of enforced starvation, surviviors were physically incapable of eating even the most basic foodstuffs without repercussions.
After the food was distributed, the British started up a registry to take an accounting of the survivors. Horak and her mother were issued with 'Displaced Persons' cards. Shortly after exiting the tent, Olga’s mother collapsed. "My mother had survived Auschwitz, a death march from Kurzbach to Dresden, the journey to Belsen and four months in that cesspool, only to die moments after being registered as a survivor".
Horak stayed with Bozena in Pilzen until she was healthy enough to return to Bratislava with Bozena. In Bratislava, she met Thomas, who was also an orphan. Horak stayed with one of his aunts, the Bardos family, while in Bratislava. Zsuzsi, her cousin, offered to set Horak up with her friend's brother; they got married on 9 February 1947. John and Olga were determined to start a life outside Europe and away from the horrors they had suffered. John’s sister had made travel arrangements for her family and, using the same connections as had Olga and John, they were able to gain passage to Australia
. Travelling on the Greek ship Cyrenia, they left in August 1949, arriving in Melbourne
on 16 September 1949. There, Horak was employed as a dress maker and, after moving to Sydney
, she established the Hibodress garment factory.
Horak still lives in Sydney, and is a volunteer guide at the Sydney Jewish Museum
. She has donated several of her artifacts to the museum.
Born in 1926 to Piroska Weiss (1905–1945) and Hugo Rosenberger (1894–1944), she was transported by the Nazis to Auschwitz in 1944 and later, in 1945, to Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
. She was the sole survivor of her family. Her sister, Judith (1925–1942) died in Auschwitz in 1942 after being one of the first Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
transported from Bratislava. Her father was transported to Auschwitz in 1944 and her mother died the day after Belsen was liberated by the British on 15 April 1945.
She and her husband John Horak emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1949 and established the Hibodress garment factory. In 2000, she wrote her memoirs Auschwitz to Australia.
1939–1942
Horak was born in CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and lived in Bratislava with her family for her first 13 years. In 1939, the Nuremberg Laws
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
were passed in Slovakia and the Second World War started. She and her older sister, Judith, were unable to continue their schooling at Zivnodom, a German high school. She was forced to wear the Star of David
Yellow badge
The yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...
on her chest. She says, "I was not ashamed to wear the star ... I was endangered on the street where some people abused me with foul language and bodily harm."
On 21 March 1942, the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
ordered all Bratislava's single Jews born before 1925 to report to the local train station to 'finally do some work'. Olga's sister Judith boarded a train with 994 other Jewish teenagers, and was taken to Auschwitz. She was killed two weeks before her 17th birthday.
After living under increasing hardship and with the constant fear of being deported, Horak's parents made the decision to escape Slovakia and go to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
Hungary
Horak and her family left Bratislava with other relatives. Left with an overnight bag and no documents, Horak, 16 at the time, worried about looking fat in the numerous layers in which her mother had clothed her. These were the only clothes she would have for the next year and a half. They boarded the train in two groups and travelled to HegyeshalomHegyeshalom
Hegyeshalom is a village of approximately 3600 inhabitants in the Győr-Moson-Sopron county of Hungary, on the border with Austria and less than 15 km from the border with Slovakia.- History :...
, a village on the Hungarian border. There, they met a guide who took them across the border. They would walk all night before finally reaching a small Hungarian village at dawn.
They sought rest at a small cottage before catching a train to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. They found a small room to rent under the supervision of another Jewish family, the Königs. They never found out about Olga's true heritage, as the family always used the excuse that Horak's father needed medical treatment in Budapest. Horak slept on a stretcher bed on the floor.
Return to Bratislava
As the situation in Hungary worsened, Horak’s father started making arrangements to return to Bratislava. They had the same guide as in 1942 and took, roughly, the same route. They took the train and stopped at the same little Hungarian border village. On the way out of the station, Hungarian gendarmes were positioned to verify papers and travel documents. Horak and her parents got through safely. Her Aunt Aranka and Uncle Jacob did not; they were deported to Auschwitz while their 15-year-old son, Thomas, kept walking. He never saw his parents again and would never again speak of them.In late August 1944, the Germans invaded Slovakia. Eugene, a cousin of Horak and a young solicitor who worked with the underground, was pushed from the third story of a building in broad daylight. With the invasion of the Germans came more deportations to death camps. In early August 1944, Horak and her family were told to go to Marianka
Marianka
Marianka is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Malacky District in the Bratislava region, in the foothills of the Little Carpathians. The village is the oldest pilgrimage site in Slovakia and the first pilgrimage site dedicated to Virgin Mary in the area of former Hungarian Kingdom...
, another area outside of Bratislava. After two weeks, a group of SS guards and Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka.The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana organization, which existed from 1923 to 1927, when the Czechoslovak authorities ordered its dissolution...
s surrounded the building.
Auschwitz
Horak was transported to SeredSered
Sereď is a town in southern Slovak Republic near Trnava, on the right bank of the Váh River on the Danubian Lowland. It has аpproximately 17,000 inhabitants.It has a hotel, cinema, culture house, many restaurants and confectioner's shops.-Geography:...
, a collection point for Slovakian Jews located 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) northeast of Bratislava. There the commander, Alois Brunner
Alois Brunner
Alois Brunner is an Austrian Nazi war criminal. Brunner was Adolf Eichmann's assistant, and Eichmann referred to Brunner as his "best man." As commander of the Drancy internment camp outside Paris from June 1943 to August 1944, Brunner is held responsible for sending some 140,000 European Jews to...
, would entertain himself by shooting prisoners at random.
Horak, her parents, her grandmother and about 120 other people, were shoved into a cattle truck that normally would have held eight horses. Horak does not know how long she was in the train to Auschwitz but says:
Horak had arrived at Auschwitz, where she underwent Selektion. Horak was separated from her father after they came off the train. She never saw him again. Horak, her mother, and the remaining female members of her family who were at Sered, were forced to strip and to pass an inspection done by Doktor Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
. Horak and her mother were sent to the right; the ones sent to the left were killed.
Horak was at Auschwitz until October 1944. One morning, after Appell (roll call
Roll call
Roll call is the calling of the names of people from a list to determine the presence or absence of the listed people . The term applies to the calling itself, to the time moment of this procedure, and to a military signal that announces it Roll call is the calling of the names of people from a...
), Horak and some 1,000 other female prisoners were told not to return to the barracks. She feared the worst, but as she puts it, "At this point, I didn’t care anymore. They could have done what they liked."
Kurzbach
Horak and her mother were sent to Kurzbach, a small German village with only a few, small, low-built houses and a newly-built straw barn. Kurzbach was cold, and she was given only a paper bag and a grey blanket to keep warm during the cold of winter.Horak recalls: "Everyday I prayed that help would come, either from heaven or from the Allies". During one roll call, just after Christmas 1944, the prisoners were ordered to form columns, five abreast, and to start marching. It would be a long time before they stopped.
Death march
Horak was still with her mother. They walked the same route they took every morning to the forest but, instead of turning right at the end of the village, they kept going. They could hear gunfire and could see an airplane above them—the RussiansSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
were near. The SS guards pushed them, even though they were visibly weak. The soldiers said, "Anyone who stops will be shot". So everyone marched. Horak's cousins, Lilly and Trude, were at the end of their strength. Lilly was suffering from a severe cold, high temperature and a bad earache. They fell out of the column and sat by the road. Horak and her mother tried, in vain, to get them up but they would not move. Horak says, “They had taken enough and were beyond caring what happened to them.” So they kept walking, fearing the worst. An hour later, Russian forces found them by the side of the road.
Horak and her mother had marched for nearly 375 kilometres before arriving in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. There they were shoved, once again, into cattle cars. Before the train left, they were caught up in one of the three air raids
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War...
by the British Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
over Dresden. "During the raid, we watched as the bombs fell like manna from heaven. We were not scared, even as shrapnel flew around us..." Within a few minutes of the raid's end, the train was moving again. They were on their way to Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen may refer to:* Stalag XI-C Bergen-Belsen , a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp* Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , on the site of the prisoner-of-war camp...
, with no food or water for the 500 kilometres (310.7 mi) journey.
Bergen-Belsen
Inside Bergen-Belsen the camp were many rows of wooden huts in lines along the camp roads. Rations were just some black water, a small slice of black bread, and sometimes a watery soup after night roll call. The roll call continued even though the remaining prisoners had been left for dead. In the last weeks before they were liberated, conditions became even worse. Their bread ration was reduced to less than a slice per day, and then was stopped completely. Then, for the last week, their water stopped. There were still 60,000 inmates in the camp.On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen’s residents lined up for roll call; nobody came. Suddenly, they became aware of the situation around them, hearing the noise of tanks. There were no SS guards in sight. As the hum got closer they realised that the noise was of British tanks.
Within hours of securing the camp, they brought in DDT to delouse the survivors. They also brought in food and left it outside the barracks. But after years of enforced starvation, surviviors were physically incapable of eating even the most basic foodstuffs without repercussions.
After the food was distributed, the British started up a registry to take an accounting of the survivors. Horak and her mother were issued with 'Displaced Persons' cards. Shortly after exiting the tent, Olga’s mother collapsed. "My mother had survived Auschwitz, a death march from Kurzbach to Dresden, the journey to Belsen and four months in that cesspool, only to die moments after being registered as a survivor".
Post war
Horak survived the holocaust, but lost her family. Her mother, father, sister and grandmother all died. After her mother died, Horak was taken to the camp's sickbay. From there, she was transferred to the town hospital, but was transferred back because the German nurses paid no attention to her as she was a 'sick Jew.' She stayed at the Bergen-Belsen sickbay until the camp was burnt to the ground, when she was transferred to the State hospital in Pilzen. It was at the State Hospital that she met Bozena who, once Horak had regained some strength, offered her an apartment and some level of care.Horak stayed with Bozena in Pilzen until she was healthy enough to return to Bratislava with Bozena. In Bratislava, she met Thomas, who was also an orphan. Horak stayed with one of his aunts, the Bardos family, while in Bratislava. Zsuzsi, her cousin, offered to set Horak up with her friend's brother; they got married on 9 February 1947. John and Olga were determined to start a life outside Europe and away from the horrors they had suffered. John’s sister had made travel arrangements for her family and, using the same connections as had Olga and John, they were able to gain passage to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Travelling on the Greek ship Cyrenia, they left in August 1949, arriving in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
on 16 September 1949. There, Horak was employed as a dress maker and, after moving to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, she established the Hibodress garment factory.
Horak still lives in Sydney, and is a volunteer guide at the Sydney Jewish Museum
Sydney Jewish Museum
The Sydney Jewish Museum is a museum in Sydney, Australia, which documents the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people in Australia.-History and description:...
. She has donated several of her artifacts to the museum.