Hungarian Auschwitz Survivor Contemplates the Lack of Lessons Learned from History
Agnes Darvas, an Auschwitz survivor, recounts her memories and emphasizes the persistent cruelty in the world as she commemorates the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation.
Agnes Darvas, a Hungarian Auschwitz survivor, recently recounted her experiences as the world anticipates the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation.
At 92, Darvas remembered the traumatic time in 1944 when she was deported to Auschwitz.
She narrowly escaped the gas chambers, largely thanks to her mother cutting off her braids and a stolen coat in the ghetto.
These factors contributed to her appearing older to Dr. Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz's infamous 'Angel of Death,' who decided who would be subjected to labor or execution.
Darvas was just 12 years old at that time.
After the selection, Darvas and her mother were sent to the Plaszow labor camp, where she worked in a quarry.
They were later transferred to the Mauthausen camp and eventually ended up at the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp.
There, Darvas contracted typhoid and cholera from contaminated water, and by the time British forces liberated the camp in April 1945, she was unable to walk.
She vividly depicted the chaos and suffering, with bodies scattered throughout the camp.
During the Holocaust, over 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, lost their lives at Auschwitz, established by Nazi Germany as part of their 'Final Solution' to eradicate European Jews.
In 1944 alone, half a million Hungarian Jews were killed in Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps, including all of Darvas's extended family.
Reflecting on the Holocaust's atrocities, Darvas expressed concern about the world's failure to learn from history.
'People think that commemorating will prevent these things from happening.
Well, this occurs every day, perhaps not with Jews but with other ethnicities...
there has never been so much cruelty in the world,' she remarked.
As the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation draws near, Darvas continues to remember her family's loss and the lessons many have yet to learn.
At 92, Darvas remembered the traumatic time in 1944 when she was deported to Auschwitz.
She narrowly escaped the gas chambers, largely thanks to her mother cutting off her braids and a stolen coat in the ghetto.
These factors contributed to her appearing older to Dr. Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz's infamous 'Angel of Death,' who decided who would be subjected to labor or execution.
Darvas was just 12 years old at that time.
After the selection, Darvas and her mother were sent to the Plaszow labor camp, where she worked in a quarry.
They were later transferred to the Mauthausen camp and eventually ended up at the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp.
There, Darvas contracted typhoid and cholera from contaminated water, and by the time British forces liberated the camp in April 1945, she was unable to walk.
She vividly depicted the chaos and suffering, with bodies scattered throughout the camp.
During the Holocaust, over 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, lost their lives at Auschwitz, established by Nazi Germany as part of their 'Final Solution' to eradicate European Jews.
In 1944 alone, half a million Hungarian Jews were killed in Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps, including all of Darvas's extended family.
Reflecting on the Holocaust's atrocities, Darvas expressed concern about the world's failure to learn from history.
'People think that commemorating will prevent these things from happening.
Well, this occurs every day, perhaps not with Jews but with other ethnicities...
there has never been so much cruelty in the world,' she remarked.
As the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation draws near, Darvas continues to remember her family's loss and the lessons many have yet to learn.
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