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Shadow Box: The Holocaust survivor represented by this shadow box is fourteen-year-old Gloria Hollender. She is from Czechoslovakia. This shadow box has many symbolic references to my Holocaust survivor. The box itself represents her bicycle basket where she would carry things. The doll is a replica of her doll that she loved so much. The egg shows the chickens that she would take into town to be slaughtered. All the bright colors show how when she was younger she loved the Roma’s bright colors and ruffles that they wore. But she was sadly not allowed to wear them because she could be called a “Gypsy”. Romas were one of the targeted groups by Hitler. But, Gloria was sent to camps later for being Jewish.
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Honoree Essay:
I put my hand up to my newly shaved head. When I brought my fingers back down, blood covered them. Those bastards! I looked at my mother, and I could barely even recognize her. I had to look deep into her blue eyes. They handed us clothes that were more like rags. I shed down giving them everything except for my shoes. The rags were oversized and hung on my body, the sleeves loosely cascading down my shoulders. The blue and white striped fabric of the cloth surrounded my body, my heart, who I was. I looked around and realised that if I was a bird flying overhead, I could not tell one person from the next. Luckily, I had my sturdy shoes from Passover keeping me grounded. The other women and I shuffled along to a stand where a man waited with a sharp black needle, ink dripping from the tip. Two women held down my mother’s arm while the man tattooed a number A-6373. I was next, my number became A-6374. My sister behind me became A-6375. My mother, sister and I were lucky to still be with each other. Most of the surrounding people were by themselves, lonely and dying by the second.
This the partial past of Gloria “Hansi” Hollender. She was a fourteen year-old Jewish girl from NagyBereg, Czechoslovakia on the outskirts of Beregszasz, Czechoslovakia. She had four older brothers: József or Józsi, Michael or Miksa, Sándor or Shanny, and Viktor. Then came Gloria and then the youngest, Anuschka or Anna.
Growing up, Gloria had a privileged life. Her family lived on a farm and owned a store in the town. She lived near her cousins with whom she played. She grew up singing songs. When Gloria was at the horrid and despicable death camps, she sang Hungarian songs about birds and the summer time.
In Gloria’s town the first thing that was affected by the Nazis was the Jewish owned shops. Her family’s shop was closed because of lack of profit from the hateful Nazi accusations. They were grateful to still have their farm to feed them and sell food from. Sadly, Gloria had friends, neighbors and family who became poor beggars when they closed their shops. Gloria’s brothers might have gotten into fights because they were Jewish. It made her sad to know that some people she loved were poor, but in the beginning Gloria was not greatly affected by the Nazis. That would change.
A few months later, the Hungarian police and the German Schutzstaffel, commonly known as the SS, put a hook on Gloria’s front door and a lock. Then they lit a candle and dripped wax, brownish liquid wax, onto the lock. Before it hardened the Nazi Swastika was imprinted on it. When her father saw that, he began to cry. “I saw tears rolling down my father's cheeks,” she said. Gloria and her family packed their things and went into their town, Beregszász. There they were loaded on to a truck and were taken to the newly made ghetto.
The ghetto was an area with tall red brick walls surrounding it. Inside of the ghetto was the synagogue for thousands of people to stay in. When they ran out of room in the synagogue, people were put in shacks outside of the synagogue. Gloria tells about how some of the teenage boys wanted someone to come back to marry after the war so they proposed to girls. One boy proposed to Gloria, but she knew she was too young. Later in an interview she says, “At 14, we really considered ourselves children yet, not adults, definitely. But, this happened a lot, apparently. I heard from others, because it was sort of a joke at first I thought. But, apparently young men were staking out certain girls so they would have some hope coming back to someone that they would like to marry.”
After four weeks, Gloria and her family were put in a cattle car and were sent of to a place called Auschwitz. No one knew what was in store for the one hundred people in the cramped cattle car. The trip took four days. When they got to Auschwitz everyone was separated. Her brother and her father were sent with the rest of the men. Gloria and her mother were put with a group of teenage girls and adult women, and Gloria’s twelve year old sister, Anna, with a group of little kids and elderly. That was the last time Gloria saw her brothers and father. Later, Gloria and her mother were put with other women and saw that Anna was being pulled away in the bed of a truck. She, luckily, jumped off and joined Gloria and her mother.The women were herded into a room where they were told to sit. Nazis walked around with razors, waiting to shave the women’s hair.
Later, Gloria’s mother was picked for the selection to be killed, leaving just Gloria and her sister. They sorted the clothes of the people going into the gas chambers. Gloria became sick after some time in the camps, and was going to be put in a gas chamber but escaped just before her almost death, fleeing Auschwitz, leaving her sister behind. She traveled naked through the woods. She was very cold and hungry. After twenty four hours she eventually found a barrack with other women who provided her with clothes. She was sent to seven concentration camps and survived. She was eventually liberated by Swedish Red Cross Workers.
After the war, Gloria moved to the U.S. where she got married and started a family. Gloria never saw the rest of her family. She assumes that her brothers, father, mother and sister died at Auschwitz. She now travels telling her story to prevent anything like this from happening again. Gloria Hollender Lyon refused to give up and insisted on surviving, whatever it took, despite the odds against her.
I put my hand up to my newly shaved head. When I brought my fingers back down, blood covered them. Those bastards! I looked at my mother, and I could barely even recognize her. I had to look deep into her blue eyes. They handed us clothes that were more like rags. I shed down giving them everything except for my shoes. The rags were oversized and hung on my body, the sleeves loosely cascading down my shoulders. The blue and white striped fabric of the cloth surrounded my body, my heart, who I was. I looked around and realised that if I was a bird flying overhead, I could not tell one person from the next. Luckily, I had my sturdy shoes from Passover keeping me grounded. The other women and I shuffled along to a stand where a man waited with a sharp black needle, ink dripping from the tip. Two women held down my mother’s arm while the man tattooed a number A-6373. I was next, my number became A-6374. My sister behind me became A-6375. My mother, sister and I were lucky to still be with each other. Most of the surrounding people were by themselves, lonely and dying by the second.
This the partial past of Gloria “Hansi” Hollender. She was a fourteen year-old Jewish girl from NagyBereg, Czechoslovakia on the outskirts of Beregszasz, Czechoslovakia. She had four older brothers: József or Józsi, Michael or Miksa, Sándor or Shanny, and Viktor. Then came Gloria and then the youngest, Anuschka or Anna.
Growing up, Gloria had a privileged life. Her family lived on a farm and owned a store in the town. She lived near her cousins with whom she played. She grew up singing songs. When Gloria was at the horrid and despicable death camps, she sang Hungarian songs about birds and the summer time.
In Gloria’s town the first thing that was affected by the Nazis was the Jewish owned shops. Her family’s shop was closed because of lack of profit from the hateful Nazi accusations. They were grateful to still have their farm to feed them and sell food from. Sadly, Gloria had friends, neighbors and family who became poor beggars when they closed their shops. Gloria’s brothers might have gotten into fights because they were Jewish. It made her sad to know that some people she loved were poor, but in the beginning Gloria was not greatly affected by the Nazis. That would change.
A few months later, the Hungarian police and the German Schutzstaffel, commonly known as the SS, put a hook on Gloria’s front door and a lock. Then they lit a candle and dripped wax, brownish liquid wax, onto the lock. Before it hardened the Nazi Swastika was imprinted on it. When her father saw that, he began to cry. “I saw tears rolling down my father's cheeks,” she said. Gloria and her family packed their things and went into their town, Beregszász. There they were loaded on to a truck and were taken to the newly made ghetto.
The ghetto was an area with tall red brick walls surrounding it. Inside of the ghetto was the synagogue for thousands of people to stay in. When they ran out of room in the synagogue, people were put in shacks outside of the synagogue. Gloria tells about how some of the teenage boys wanted someone to come back to marry after the war so they proposed to girls. One boy proposed to Gloria, but she knew she was too young. Later in an interview she says, “At 14, we really considered ourselves children yet, not adults, definitely. But, this happened a lot, apparently. I heard from others, because it was sort of a joke at first I thought. But, apparently young men were staking out certain girls so they would have some hope coming back to someone that they would like to marry.”
After four weeks, Gloria and her family were put in a cattle car and were sent of to a place called Auschwitz. No one knew what was in store for the one hundred people in the cramped cattle car. The trip took four days. When they got to Auschwitz everyone was separated. Her brother and her father were sent with the rest of the men. Gloria and her mother were put with a group of teenage girls and adult women, and Gloria’s twelve year old sister, Anna, with a group of little kids and elderly. That was the last time Gloria saw her brothers and father. Later, Gloria and her mother were put with other women and saw that Anna was being pulled away in the bed of a truck. She, luckily, jumped off and joined Gloria and her mother.The women were herded into a room where they were told to sit. Nazis walked around with razors, waiting to shave the women’s hair.
Later, Gloria’s mother was picked for the selection to be killed, leaving just Gloria and her sister. They sorted the clothes of the people going into the gas chambers. Gloria became sick after some time in the camps, and was going to be put in a gas chamber but escaped just before her almost death, fleeing Auschwitz, leaving her sister behind. She traveled naked through the woods. She was very cold and hungry. After twenty four hours she eventually found a barrack with other women who provided her with clothes. She was sent to seven concentration camps and survived. She was eventually liberated by Swedish Red Cross Workers.
After the war, Gloria moved to the U.S. where she got married and started a family. Gloria never saw the rest of her family. She assumes that her brothers, father, mother and sister died at Auschwitz. She now travels telling her story to prevent anything like this from happening again. Gloria Hollender Lyon refused to give up and insisted on surviving, whatever it took, despite the odds against her.