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Alyssa Vandiver ENG Comp 101-135 Mr. Neuburger 4 October 2012 Essay Survivor Testimony Ruth Brand was born in 1928 in Romania, her maiden names was Scabo. She was born in a small community that was only one third Jewish. Her mothers name was Fintiza and her fathers name was Mordic. She had a sister named Sara and brother named Ischel. Her family and the Jewish community spoke Yiddish, but she spoke Romanian in school. She grew up in a simple house in a small village with a yard and a garden. Her house was actually her Grandmothers since in her community the youngest child stayed and lived with the parents. Her grandma would always work in the garden even at age 82. Times were hard so her father left for Argentina to find a job and went in to the army, when he left her mother was pregnant with her bother. A year later her father was ready to move the family to Argentina but was killed. Her mother was left at age twenty-four with three kids. Her mothered opened a grocery store. Ruth worked in the grocery store and had to grow up fast. Everyone in her community was religious. Most of the Jews owned stores if not they were peasants. In Ruths community Jews and NonJews got along well. When Hitler started coming in to power people in the community started to be violent towards the Jews, Ruth and the other Jews were afraid to go out at night for fear of being beaten up. Ruth and her family were only in the ghetto for Four weeks before being taken to Auschwitz. The Nazis told the Jews they were being relocated and Auschwitz was just a work camp. Most of the Jews believed this because they knew the war was ending. They were taken

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on a train to the camp and spend three days and three nights cramped on the train. When they got to Auschwitz they were cramped in to bunks. Ruth was given a number like the rest of the Jews. When asked how she felt about her number she felt good because her number had an 18 in it and that was a high number. She felt this meant she had a high chance of staying alive. They werent fed much at the camp. They were given a vegetable soup that most of the Jews couldnt even swallow. A typical day they were awakened with whips and screams to get up. They had to fix there cots up nice. They were marched outside and given coffee that was the breakfast. Then they had to stand and be counted in rows of five in front of the barracks. The numbers had to be perfect even if someone died they had to be put in the row, no one could be missing or it would have to be counted all over. They would stand for hours no matter what the weather conditions. Then they would be marched to work all day. Ruth survived because she stayed healthy and worked, but had a sad life after the war. She lost most of her possessions that werent with her uncle in the Untied States.