RelatioNet RO NO 24 BO RO: RelatioNet RO NO 24 BO RO

Rosa Noyman (Liba)

Holocaust Project
Katzanelson High-School

Kfar-Saba 2016-2017

Mail: adi1035@walla.com
tal_benartzi@walla.com
relationet2014@gmail.com

First name: Rosa

Last name: Liba

Previous name: Noyman

Date of Birth:July 29th 1924

City of Birth: Borgo Prund

Country: Romania

Brother: Israel

Borgo Prund

Borgo Prund is a small town near the city Beszterce. Both cities are in the province of Transylvania.

Transylvania was part of The Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1699-1916.

During World War I, Transylvania was conquered by Romania, and it is considered a part of Romania till today.

In Borgo Prund, there were 5000-6000 Romanian residents and around a 100 Jewish families, all of whom spoke Hungarian and the Jews spoke Yiddish too.

The Jewish residents lived mainly on the main street, where they worked at commerce.

The Jewish community had a synagogue, Mikveh, Rabbi, slaughterer and everything a Jewish community needs in order to keep its tradition.

The relationship between the Jewish and the Romanian residents in Borgo Prund was good and they lived and worked in cooperation.

At the end of the 30's, the Romanian regime became Anti-Semite, and they started to make rules against the Jews.

Rosa's Childhood

Rosa was born in Borgo Prund in 1924 to a Jewish traditional family.

Her parents were born in Kluz and moved to Borgo Prund after they got married.

She had one brother, 13 years older than her, called Israel. Because of the age difference, Rosa grew up like a single child.

Her grandparents lived far from them, so she seldom met them.

Her father's brother, Yaakov who had 3 children, lived near Borgo Prund.

Rosa's father led commodities to the stores from the big city to the villages.

Therefore, their social economic level was average. They had everything they needed.

In the house, the family spoke only Yiddish, but Rosa knew also Romanian.

They were a Jewish traditional family, which means they kept kosher, celebrated the Jewish holidays and went to the synagogue on Saturdays.

Rosa remembers how her father prayed at home every day and went to the synagogue on Saturdays, and remembers herself bringing him the prayer shawl to the synagogue.

The atmosphere on Saturdays in Borgo Prund was special- every Saturday felt like a holiday and everyone felt the holiness of this day.

Rosa learnt in a Romanian school, where both Jews and gentiles studied together. She had mostly Jewish friends.

She received her Jewish education at home by her parents. Her father taught her Hebrew and when she grew up, she learnt with a teacher in a "Chedder".

The Hungarian Rule

In 1940, During the Hungarian rule, the Jewish Business licenses were confiscated by the Hungarians.
As a rule, the Jewish livelihood was difficult. Fortunately, since her father was a merchant, they could exchange supplies for food. Even though, her mother had to prepare the food early in the morning, so that the Hungarian soldiers wouldn’t smell it. Her mother shared the food she prepared with their neighbors- both Christians and Jews.
In 1941, The Hungarians established Jewish units named "Jewish Work Troops". Among the recruits was Rosa's brother, Israel. They were sent to the Ukrainian front. Most of the troops who were sent there died; however, for Israel it was a way to escape from the Nazis. Rosa lost contact with her brother and she didn't know whether he was dead or alive.
Since Rosa was Jewish, she had to discontinue her studies and to stay at home.
In 1943, The Hungarians soldiers penetrated the family's yard and stayed there. One of the Hungarian soldiers wanted to know why she stayed at home; realizing she was Jewish, asked her to join him to the cinema. She refused.
Since she was terrified of this solider, she decided to escape to her uncle's house, 5 km away. However, she was afraid that the solider would threaten her father for the information about her hiding place. In the afternoon, a messenger from her town came to tell her that it is safe to return. This event was traumatic for the whole family.
The Jews in Borgo Prund and its surroundings did not know what was happening in the rest of Europe.

The Nazi Rule

On March 1944 the Germans conquered Hungary. Rumors were spread about it, but the Jews did not know anything about the Germans. They were more afraid of the Hungarians.

Rosa remembers their last Passover in Borgo Prund. Her mother made their house kosher for the holiday.

In the morning of the Seder's night, soldiers came into the house, used their kitchen to prepare their food, turning the kitchen into non-kosher for Passover.

The Hungarian neighbors patrolled the streets to make sure no Jew left. This stage made it clear to the family that something bad was about to happen.

In April 1944, Rosa's family was the first to be expelled from Borgo Prund. They did not have time to take their personal belongings and the soldiers took their expensive possessions such as jewelry and money.

Fortunately, Rosa's mother, Esther, took a warm blanket, which later helped them survive the cold weather in the ghetto.

The Jews were taken in carriages to the ghetto near Beszterce. The ghetto was built in an open space, therefore people suffered from the European weather. Her uncle, Yaakov could afford buying wood to warm up their shelter.

Since the conditions in the ghetto were difficult, many people perished.

The Jews in the ghetto tried to survive and to continue their lives. They tried to do it by using their professions. For example the doctors created a small hospital in order to take care of the sick people. The Hasidic Jews who wanted to keep the Jewish tradition in the ghetto, created a place which was designated for praying.

Rosa's family was in the ghetto almost two months and on Shavuot they were transferred by trains to Auschwitz Birkenau. The trains were crowded and they did not have food. The Germans gave them a small bucket of water but the water was filthy and no one would drink from it. The ride lasted two days, and during the ride people were crying and praying. They felt that something bad was going to happen.
5-6 hours later, they realized they have been lead outside of Romania's boarders and understood they arrived to Poland.

When they arrived to Auschwitz, they saw few people wearing striped clothes who helped them to get off the trains.

They offered them to leave their personal belongings on the trains.

As soon as the Jews arrived to Auschwitz, they were separated from each other. Men and women headed towards different directions, so were young and old people.

Rosa did not have the chance to say goodbye to her father before he died. She was alone in Auschwitz; her cousin who came with her had been separated from her and unfortunately died too.

The next day, the German soldiers took the Jews' clothes, brought them striped shirts and shave their heads.

One of Rosa's memories from Auschwitz is seeing an ugly face reflected in a mirror. She turned to see who was it but she saw there was no one behind her. She understood she saw her reflection and that moment she swore not to shave her hair again.

Rosa was alone in Auschwitz. Her cousin who came with her had been separated from the family and unfortunately died.

The conditions in Auschwitz were difficult. The Jews slept crowded in barracks and they rarely ate especially because they tried to keep kosher.

In the first night they already could feel the smell of the burnt flesh coming out from the flames they saw, but they did not know what was going on.

The Nazis warned the Jews not to touch the electric fence, but some of them touched it in order to commit suicide.

After two weeks in Auschwitz, Rosa was transferred to a working camp in Danzig. Rosa worked there in an open field and she had to water the plants. She had been there for almost two weeks, she does not remember a lot from these days.

They were transferred to Kaiserwald- concentration camp in Latvia. In Kaiserwald the Nazis were trying to break the Jews mentally by giving them food once a day and letting them deal with the difficult conditions.

After a week, they were transferred by trains to Stutthof concentration camp, 37 km east of Danzig.

When they arrived in Stutthof, the Nazis set them in rows. One Nazi officer noticed Rosa, who was very weak and tired, and sent her to a room full of women. She sat there next to woman who offered her to pray with her Siddur. Rosa did not know which prayer she should pray, so she decided to randomly open the Siddur. She opened "Avinu Malkenu" and started to pray while hearing her mother's voice praying with her.

Few minutes later, she heard another voice telling her to leave the room immediately. She did not know where the voice came from, and after that she heard it again and she decided to go out of the room. Fortunately the Nazi guard was not near the door so she could escape. She ran away until she saw the women who came with her and she got back to the rows. Rosa felt that the pray and the voice of her mother saved her life, and hindsight she feels that moment she was chosen to live.

They were transferred to Gleiven women labor camp where they had to build railways. Rosa remembers herself carrying big heavy logs. The conditions were difficult, it was very cold and they almost did not eat. Four women had to share a loaf of bread. Rosa was in Gleiven for a few weeks.

Started in April, the Nazis deported the Jews from the camp by "death marches"- marches for long distance.

A lot of Jews died on the way because of the weather and the long distance they had to walk through.

Rosa arrived to Malhov labor camp at night.

In the morning, there weren't Nazis in the camp, and the Jews did not know what was going on. At 10 o'clock, two Russian soldiers came to Malhov and told the Jews that the war was over and they could go back home.

Rosa and her friends did not know where to go; they were very confused and tired. Rosa heard one Russian soldier speaking Yiddish, so she asked him to help them return home. He offered they should join another soldier who was on his way to a big city in Germany. They joined him and the Russian soldiers in the city helped them find the way home.

Rosa came home on July, and only her brother Israel was there. Their house was destroyed, and unfortunately the rest of their family died.

After few years, Rosa met Israel, who also survived the war. They lived in Targu Mures in Transylvania and got married.