Gita Feuerwerger photographs

Gita Feuerwerger was born Gita Berkowitz in 1926 or 1927 the small town Săpânța, Romania, near Sighetu Marmației, Romania (Sighet, Hungary, during the war). Her family was deported to Auschwitz in spring 1944. Gita’s mother and younger brother and sisters were murdered upon arrival at Auschwitz. Gita worked in a German munition factory throughout the remainder of the war and was moved to several camps. She was escaped a death march at the end of the war. After the war, she returned to her hometown where she met and married Henry Feuerwerger (1920-1970). Henry’s parents and three of his siblings were murdered during the Holocaust. Gita and Henry moved to the Prien am Chiemsee camp where they stayed for two years. Henry immigrated to the United States to rejoin his older brother, and Gita was a part of a program that sent young women to Canada to work as nannies. In Canada she lived with the Appleby family until she was admitted to the United States thanks to a Vongressional Act introduced by Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton. Gita and Henry settled in Cleveland, Ohio where they had three children, Marvin, Carol, and Philp. Henry died in 1970 of heart failure. Gita married Simcha Sachs in 1982 and died of lung cancer in 1997.