Magda Hammer: " We must be vigilant because I feel it could happen anywhere any place again what happened to us. I made my own miracle because I was selected two times for death but ran back. I believe in Jewish tradition, Jewish values, and Jewish ethics. George Santayana has said: One who does not remember history is bound to live through it again". I was born in Czechoslovakia, which later became Hungary. My family, which consisted of my parents, my three brothers, and me, lived in an affluent town where my father was a wine dealer. In April1944, we were marched into a brick factory, which became the ghetto. I then was sent to Auschwitz, but a girlfriend and I escaped and were hidden in a silo. Upon liberation we were sent to American ZDP camp. One of my brothers and I were the only family members to survive. My brother then went to Israel. but I did not want to go. Instead, an uncle brought me to America. For fifty years I was silent about my story, but recently, when questioned by my daughter, I revealed what had happened. I participated in the March of the Living to educate children about the Holocaust. I also had the opportunity to return to Auschwitz where my mother, father, and brothers died. I said Kaddish for them.
