Oral history interview with Eleanor Weile

Eleanor “Dicky” Ehrlich (née Weile), born June 6, 1922 in Berlin, Germany, discusses being an only child; her mother (Tilla Froehlich), who owned a store; her father (Julius Weile), who was a traveling manufacturer’s representative; witnessing Nazi parades; her friend whose parents were Nazi supporters; a major boycott in 1933 and her parents’ decision to move to Amsterdam; the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940; the civilian response to the German occupiers; the Dutch view towards religion; the deportations of Jews; receiving a letter in August 1942 to report to Gestapo headquarters; being detained along with her parents; being sent on March 23, 1943 to Herzogenbusch (Vught), where she made radio tubes for V-1 and V-2 rockets; her mother’s death from sickness on November 7; being sent to Auschwitz and arriving on June 6, 1944; being tattooed with her camp number; being transferred to Reichenbach (Langenbielau) on June 10, 1944; being requested by the Philips Factory because of her ability as a worker and how she believes that this saved her life; the acts of disobedience performed by the prisoners; damaging components of the radio tubes they were producing; her memories of the inmates and camp guards; her German friend in the camp, Gerda Witteck, who shared food with her; being moved to Langenbielau on February 20, 1945 and then forced to march to Trautenau, Czechoslovakia (Trutnov, Czech Republic); being transported by train in coal cars to Minden, Westphalia (arrived March 26, 1945); being transported to Beensdorf (arrived April 2, 1945) and remaining there for two weeks; being sent to Bergen-Belsen, which was full and would not let them in; going to Ludwigslust; going on an 11 night trip to Hamburg in a railway car, moving along much of the same tracks over and over; being forced to dig trenches; being liberated by the Swedish Red Cross on May 4, 1945; immigrating to the United States in 1948; and her reflections on the methods she used to survive the camps.