Flory Raychbarta
Auschwitz Survivor

The number 41148 is still visible on Flory Raychbarta's left arm. The memory of her experiences in Auschwitz are so painful that she cannot hear German being spoken without feeling sick. The smell of drilled teeth at the dentist evokes the smell of the crematoriums. Two years after the Germans occupied Greece, Flory then 23, was deported to Auschwitz with her grandmother and uncle. They were killed on arrival. She speaks tearfully about the selections to live or to die - standing naked and knee-deep in snow - the typhoid and the brutality. "Losing my dignity and feelings was terrible. I lost my feelings. I didn't have any. I was just numb." Flory was in the camp for two years until evacuation - the 'Death March' of 18 January 1945.

Her survival is all the more miraculous since at one time her number was listed for the crematorium when she was ill with typhoid. A friend from Solancia with whom she is still in touch saved her.

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