(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie has, for years, been archiving stories of Holocaust survival, including personal stories of the courage, resilience, and endurance of the Jewish people. Over the weekend, which marked 79 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the museum highlighted much of that work.
“A woman ran into our barrack, yelling at the top of her voice: ‘We are free. We are free,’” says a recording of Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum shared Kor’s testimony, which can also be seen in the museum itself, to its YouTube channel on Friday. In it, Kor describes hearing the sounds of bombings and artillery for two months — until the morning of Jan. 27, 1945.
“It was very quiet,” says Kor. “It was eerie to have such a quiet morning.”
Soon, she saw people smiling at a distance.
“They gave us chocolate, cookies and hugs,” Kor says. “That was my first taste of freedom.”
Holocaust survivors, concerned that the Holocaust would become merely a paragraph in history after they died, partnered with the Illinois Holocaust Museum to preserve their stories — their real, lived experiences including time spent in concentration camps.
“Before we were taken into the ghetto, it was during the last days of Passover,” says a recording of Auschwitz survivor Fritzie Fitzshall. “In the middle of that night, there was a knock that came on our door.”
Fritzshall, who died in 2021 at 91 years old, was also a co-founder of the museum.
“I thought I would die when I was walking toward the gas chambers,” she says. “I thought I would die because I didn’t have enough food.”
Fritzshall would end up with enough food at Auschwitz. Being the youngest, the other women in the camp made a pact to give her small portions of their food each day — with the hopes she would survive and tell all of their stories.
“I have so much more to tell you, so please ask me questions,” she says.
Ask Holocaust survivor Fritzshall anything through the interactive survivor stories experience at the Illinois Holocaust Museum.
Stories like those from Kor and Fritzshall can be heard in the Zev and Shifra Karkomi Holocaust Exhibition. You can access it virtually at this link (with the passcode Shtetl24!).
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