Frances Chernick: “I do not know why I survived, but the animals were treated better than us. My good deeds in helping others kept me alive”. There is no place like America. Walter Freshman and I are from the same town of Bendzin, Poland, and were reunited when. upon retirement. we both moved with our families to Boca Raton. When the Germans entered Poland, my family and I were moved all together to the ghetto and then on to Auschwitz. Dr. Josef Mengele sent my mother and father away to their deaths. Not knowing their future and not wanting to be separated from my parents, I asked to go with them. My mother said not to argue. Ultimately, only my brother and I survived. I had a nice singing voice, so while in the work camps I sang to keep up everyone's spirit. As a result, someone kept providing food for me, which I shared with those around me, and I was saved. I was part of a death march from Reichenberg at the end but survived this as well. Throughout this terrible time, I just kept praying to not be in the gas chambers. At liberation I vowed never to sing again, and I have not sung in sixty years. Not only that, but for forty-five years after being liberated I was silent about my experiences. Finally, my daughter asked me to tell my story, and now I am trying to teach others through what I have learned. I met my husband, also a survivor, who lived by working as a chauffeur for a Russian colonel. We built a life together in the United States and were successful in real estate. We have two daughters and four grandchildren.
