Eugene Black
On 19th March 1944 German forces occupied Hungary completely. Immediately, the whole of the Jewish population were ordered to wear the Star of David and within ten days the Jews were moved into ghettos. Eugene's house was within a ghetto area, so his family took other people into their home.
On May 14th Eugene was returning home from school, he saw a German military lorry outside his house with his two sisters and father on board. He saw an SS man hit his mother and push her on to the lorry. Eugene was forced onto the lorry with the rest of his family and other Jews people from the ghetto.
The lorry was driven to a brickyard, where the Jewish population were being gathered together. Eugene and his family were ordered into railway cattle trucks and transported to Auschwitz. Eugene was separated from his mother, father and sisters. After being completely shaved and showered, he was given his number, 55546, and a striped uniform.
Eugene stayed at Auschwitz for approximately 10 days before being chosen for labour. He was sent by train to Buchenwald and then to Dora Mittelbau, where the Nazis used slave labourers to manufacture rockets. Eugene's job was to load rocks onto a truck from the tunnels for 12-14 hours at a time. After five months Eugene caught pneumonia. He was saved by a German doctor. In mid March 1945 Eugene was sent to Bergen Belsen, Eugene described it as "a hellhole".On 15th April Eugene was liberated on the arrival of the British Army.
After Eugene was liberated, he discovered that he had lost his entire family, except for his older brother who had been an officer in the Czech army. He was homeless and still only 17 years old. Eugene had worked as an interpreter for the British army after his liberation. He then met his future wife Annie. He says Annie was "my saviour". Eugene and Annie later wed and and had four children.