Sarah Rhoten Larry Neuburger Com 102-127 15 October 2012 Ursula Levy Testimony This very heart wrenching

testimony was about Ursula Levy, strong and inspirational women who was forced to overcome a great deal of challenges at such a young age. She was born on May 11th 1935 in Osnabruck Germany where she lived with her mother, father and older brother George before being placed a convent in Holland. Often times kids would be sent to convents such as the one Ursula was placed in attempts to avoid the concentration camps. However they were not able to stay in the convents for long periods of times because in April of 1942 the Nazis captured all the young boys and girls that lived in the convent and placed them into the dreadful concentration camps. Ursula and her brother George had always been together, whether it be whilst in their home in Germany or in the convent, however she describes the awful separation that was enforced once residing in the concentration camps. The separation from her brother as well as the horrible conditions of her surroundings caused her cried every day and she was so distraught that she was unable to eat even her small portioned meals. On her Birthday a man named Mr. Vanakenburg from the convent who owned a big hardware store came to the concentration camp to give her food, this was a rather unusual occurrence, however he was able to visit frequently because he persuaded the Nazis by giving them a big discount. He would come visit often, one day he spoke to the Nazi officers about Ursula and her brother, saying things such as, the color of their skin was light, they had blue eyes, and also that their father was a catholic living in America. This kind ac from the man earned her and her brother gain a new status known as privileged they were then placed into special barracks and were given special

treatment, because of this although Ursula was a victim of starvation, humiliation and disease, her and her brother never feared death by the crematoriums as the other Jews did. Ursula and her brother were able to escape when they were sent on a train with many others to be moved to death camp; however Russian soldiers captured the German Nazis on the train and set many of the Jews free, she explains that there were nearly 2,600 people on the train, however only about 600 survived and made it off the train. The grave amount of death was devastating to Ursula, she and George remained together, but they later learned that their father and uncle died of gangrene, and their mother died of Typhus. As many survivors, Ursula suffered from depression due to the events of the Holocaust, however she must live with the images and memories. She is forced to live with the haunting images from spending her childhood in the concentration camps and her witnessing her fellow people suffer daily. Quotes: One of the most dreadful things for me was that I was placed in the womens camp, and George was placed in the mens, the separation was just totally devastating... I felt totally isolated and abandoned. A very cruel officer took me and put me on his lap, and course I was scared to death to be sitting there, but on the other hand, I was also afraid to say I dont want to sit here. I had often seen him hitting people.