Personal Journeys: The Survivor (Part 1)

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Personal Journeys: The Survivor (Part 1)

A Holocaust survivor who lives in Sandy Springs shares her inspirational story.

Ilse Eichner Reiner, about 10 years old, riding her bicycle in a small town in Czechoslovakia. When Ilse was 11 years old, she was sent to a concentration camp outside Prague — Terezin, called by the Nazis the “Jewish paradise,” when in reality it was the gateway to Auschwitz.

Ilse Reiner (right) talks about her childhood at her Sandy Springs home.

Terezin, a quiet garrison town, was converted into a concentration camp during WWII. Reiner lived in cramped, bug-infested conditions. After the war, the building was converted into apartments. A recent photograph shows the view today from a corner apartment on the second floor.

A recent photo of where Reiner lived in Terezin: Building L410, a girls’ barracks. Ilse lived in room No. 24. The room was small – the size of a bedroom – with three-story bunks and straw mattresses. The room faced the main square with lime trees that still stand today.

A photograph of Reiner’s childhood home. Nazis forced the family to move into the attic. A couple days later, the Gestapo took Ilse’s father into “protective custody.” After that, Ilse and her mother moved to a nearby village, where they shared one room.

A recent picture of Helga Weissova-Hoskova, a celebrated artist and bunkmate of Ilse at Terezin.

Reiner’s childhood diary with a photo of her mother that she kept inside. She writes: “Memory hurts, I will never forget, you my beloved mother, the path to your grave will never be overgrown!! And cannot become overgrown. My mother”

The cover of Reiner’s childhood diary.

Ilse (right) at 3 years old with her mother. Reiner describes her mother as strict but also loving.

Recent view inside Building L410 in Terezin with its cold, damp hallways. Nearly every child who lived in this building during the war perished — either from disease or by being sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.

At the museum in Terezin, the walls in one exhibition room are blanketed with the names of thousands of children sent to Terezin who perished.

Undated image shows the main gate of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz I in Poland, which was liberated by the Russians in January 1945. Writing over the gate reads: “Arbeit macht frei” (Work Sets You Free).

This 1944 photo provided by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shows SS officers socializing in their retreat at Solahutte, Poland. From left, Richard Baer, Dr. Josef Mengele, Commandant Josef Kramer (hidden) and the former Commandant of Auschwitz Rudolf Hoess (foreground); the man at right is unidentified.

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Ilse Eichner Reiner, about 10 years old, riding her bicycle in a small town in Czechoslovakia. When Ilse was 11 years old, she was sent to a concentration camp outside Prague — Terezin, called by the Nazis the “Jewish paradise,” when in reality it was the gateway to Auschwitz.

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