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thousand Jews a day."
AGNES TENNENBAUM HAS WRITTEN TWO
BOOKS ABOUT IT, AND SPEAKS TO
AUDIENCES OF ALL AGES ABOUT HER
LIFE IN EUROPE YEARS AGO.
SHE WAS 17 AND A YOUNG BRIDE,
WHEN NAZI GERMANY ATTACKED
POLAND
AND STARTED WORLD WAR TWO IN
1939. OVER THE NEXT SIX YEARS,
THE
HUNGARIAN BORN WRITER LOST LOVED
ONES AND EXPERIENCED THINGS
SHE SAYS, SHE NEVER IMAGINED
COULD HAPPEN.
TENNEBAUM RECENTLY SAT DOWN WITH
OUR ERIC REYNOLDS TO TALK
ABOUT THOSE EXPERIENCES AND
SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST.
HERE'S "THE INTERVIEW". <
39.59.05 - "its over 60 years
ago..., and it is as vivid as it
had happened yesterday," ".i
have to be
grateful to God I survived."
40.27.10 - "i reach 90, i never
thought i could reach more than
60."
AGNES TENNENBAUM WILL CELEBRATE
HER 90TH YEAR OF LIFE IN
DECEMBER.
BORN IN HUNGARY, SHE IS A
SURVIVOR OF THE HOLOCAUST THAT
TOOK PLACE NEARLY
70 YEARS AGO, IN NAZI GERMANY AT
A PLACE CALLED AUSCHWITZ.
11.07.08.10 - "when the
refugees from poland and
czechoslovakia came to our
border and they
started to tell us stories, but
they seem to be so incredible
that we thought maybe they were
just
exaggerating,"
BUT, SHE NEVER BELIEVED THOSE
REFUGEE STORIES COULD EVER
HAPPEN
IN HUNGARY. 9.55.20 - "i
couldn't imagine that ," "....it
can happen to us, because of
those many, many mixed marriages
and the children born from that,
9.55.20 - "i couldn't imagine
that ," "....it can happen to
us, because of those many, many
mixed
marriages and the children born
from that, so it was just
unbelievable in my mind,"
EVENTUALLY, HUNGARY'S JEWISH
COMMUNITY STARTED SEEING
CHANGES.
HER COLLEGE DEGREED HUSBAND WAS
FORCED TO DIG DITCHES.
HE DEVELOPED TUBERCULOSIS AND
WAS SENT TO A SANITORIUM.
11.58.19 - "i never saw my
husband again, and then my
father was taken away from us
and i never
saw my father again,"
HER FATHER, A SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESSMAN, WAS AN AMERICAN
CITIZEN,
BORN AND RAISED IN NEW YORK. HE
ANGUISHED OVER NOT FLEEING
HUNGARY IN TIME. WHEN HE WAS
TAKEN AWAY, TENNENBAUM
AND HER MOTHER WERE REMOVED FROM
THEIR HOME AND SENT TO A
GHETTO. ONE MORNING THEY WERE
TOLD TO WALK
TO THE TRAINS. 13.04.00 - "they
were squeezing us into the
cattle trains," 13.27.02 - "no
water, no food, no bathroom
facilities and then the door
closed,"
-
13.27.02 - "it took about i
believe two and a half days if i
remember until we got to
auschwitz,"
14.34.06 - "all through the trip
i was so dehydrated," 15.19.13 -
"and then i faced mengele,"
"....directing traffic with his
tongue, left, all old people,"
".young people on the right
side, so in
one second i had my mothers hand
in my hand," ".and the next
second she was gone
and i never saw her again."
DR. JOSEF MENGELE, THE NAZI'S
NOTORIUS
ANGEL OF DEATH, SENT TENNENBAUM
TO THE RIGHT SIDE WITH THE YOUNG
PEOPLE. 17.50.07 - "a woman
came, shaved off my hair,
and all bodily hair removed,"
18.19.06 - "i didn't feel a
woman anymore until the end of
the war, long after the war,"
AS SHE WAS LED TO THE BARRACKS,
A FEMALE GUARD TOLD TENNENBAUM
TO
LOOK AT A BRICK BUILDING.
20.32.00 - "i saw the curling
of smoke from the
chimney and she said that is
your family," 16.08.12 - "the
germans actually put into the
gas chamber and
then into the crematorium about
3 thousand jews a day,"
TENNENBAUM MIRACUOUSLY SURVIVED
DAILY INSPECTIONS AND
CHALLENGES OF AUSCHWITZ, AS THE
NAZIS LOOKED FOR ANY REASON TO
KILL
THEIR CAPTIVES. SHE WAS
SELECTED TO WORK IN A
MUNITIONS FACTORY MAKING BOMBS
AND MINES.
27.23.02 - "i did everything
they told me to do because i
figured thats the only way to
survive,"
AS U-S BOMBS AND TROOPS GOT
CLOSER TO THE MUNITIONS FACTORY,
THE NAZI
GUARDS STARTED MARCHING
TENNENBAUM AND THE THOUSAND
OTHER WOMEN TO ANOTHER
CONCENTRATION CAMP.
29.02.19 - "we walked for 2
days, no food, nothing to
drink," 29.50.27 - "i thought
it was time to
take a chance to run away, and i
said to my cousin we are going,
we are going to escape, and
she says to me you think its
safe, i said i take the chance,"
TENNENBAUM AND HER COUSIN WERE
FOUND BY AN ESCAPED FRENCH
PRISONER OF WAR. HE HELPED
THEM GET FOOD, WATER...
AND FIND THE AMERICAN TROOPS.
36.33.03 - "i must have looked
terrible when the
first jeeps stopped and i ran
over to the american soldiers,"
"....and he looked at me and he
says you dont have to tell me
anything i liberated two camps,"
... 36.14.12 - "i was in
terrible condition," "....
i was skin and bones,"
32.38.13 - "you know when you
are young its unbelievable how
much you can take."> Eric
Reynolds, Fox 10 News.
THE U.S. SOLDIER WHOM
TENNENBAUM FIRST
ENCOUNTERED, ACTUALLY LIVED IN
THE SAME NEW YORK NEIGHBORHOOD
AS
HER AMERICAN RELATIVES.
HE HELPED HER CONTACT HER
FAMILY. IN 1949, WITH HER NEW
HUSBAND AND
THEIR SON, TENNENBAUM FINALLY
ARRIVED IN THE U-S.
SHE DEARLY LOVES THE UNITED
STATES AND FEELS THAT TOO MANY
AMERICANS
TAKE IT FOR GRANTED. SHE ALSO
LOVES MOBILE...WHERE SHE