Unbroken – strength and hope in the face of suffering
Sam Neumann shares the story of his mother, Bobby, following her childhood in the cocoon of her family home, through the terror that overtook her during her teenage years and then the long journey to her home in Manchester. It is a personal story of horror and suffering, but also one of courage, resilience and humanity.
Bobby was born in 1929 in a small mountain town called Svalyava in Hungary. The family lived a full Jewish life, observing the Sabbath and Jewish Festivals.Even before the start of World War 2 in 1939, Hungary was increasingly implementing anti-Jewish measures. Hungary became allied to Nazi Germany in 1940.
In spring of 1944 German troops marched into Hungary to ensure that Hungary remained an ally of Germany in the war. This was a disaster for Hungarian Jews as it triggered their mass deportation and murder. Within weeks, teenage Bobby, along with her whole family, were in an overcrowded cattle truck transport to Auschwitz concentration camp. Whilst members of her family were selected for murder on arrival in Auschwitz, Bobby was selected for work. Somehow she survived the most horrendous conditions, including a death march from which she was rescued barely alive from a pile of dead bodies by the advancing Russian troops.
Bobby speaks her powerful testimony herself and, despite all, she has retained a sense of humour and forgiveness.
