“It was close to the end of the War when me and my mother Leonora ended up in Birkenau.

I was quite quick-thinking and my German was excellent. This helped a lot: I could find my way around and “organize” ourselves a bit.

Suddenly, our block had to line up ouside. “Selection!” The two rows grew quickly: I was sent to one and mother to the other. No one told us which was which, but I gathered that she was on the wrong side.

I furtively called out several times to her to run over. When she finally noticed me, she just waved her head from side to side. She must have been paralysed by the moment.

Without thinking, I made it across to her and, against her will, dragged her back to my side. Almost there, my heart froze as I spotted a soldier looking at me. He must have seen it all.. Yet he just turned away and moved on.”