Hilda Lebedun was born in 1922 in Vrutky, Czechoslovakia. She was the oldest of four children. Their father was a railroad man and Hilda describes their life as “comfortable.” She went to public school and was the only Jewish student in her class. There was “little if any anti-Semitism.” They felt very safe in Czechoslovakia.
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The restrictions started when Hilda finished her first year in college. Jews were not allowed to attend universities. In 1941, Hilda got married. A few months after the wedding, her husband was taken to a work camp in Poland. Hilda was able to bribe someone and visit him once, but after that she lost any track of him.
In March 1942, Hilda and her family were taken to Zilina, a transit camp in Slovakia. A month later they were transported to Auschwitz in a cattle car under horrific conditions. After their arrival, Hilda got separated from her parents and brothers but was able to stay together with her sister.
In the late summer of 1942, she found her mother and brothers in a different barrack. By bribing the kapo she was able to visit them a few times. Approximately one month later, Hilda's mother and brothers were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau and were gassed.
Hilda first worked in the fields in Auschwitz, then later on – since she spoke good German – the Nazis used her to keep records of the inmates. In September 1942, she was transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau and worked as a scribe there, too.
The first selections started in January 1943. Hilda saw the crematoria with her own eyes. She describes a horrible scene when the SS men were shooting bayonets into small children and “having fun” with it.
Once Hilda got typhoid fever in the camp but was able to recover. The fact that she and her sister were able to stay together during the years in the concentration camp helped them to survive.
Hilda stayed in Auschwitz-Birkenau for over two years. In November 1944, she and her sister were transported to Telefunken, a labor camp in Germany where they worked in an ammunition factory. Hilda got involved in an act of sabotage together with other workers.
As the Russian army was approaching from the east, the camp had to be evacuated. Hilda and the other inmates were put on a death march and then into cattle cars. They went first to Saxen then to Gross Rosen, Germany. At this time, the Wehrmacht soldiers took the inmates over. In an interesting scene, Hilda describes the time when the Wehrmacht soldiers were notified about Hitler's death. As they were approaching Denmark, the soldiers fled and Hilda, her sister, and the rest of the inmates were liberated by the Danish Red Cross on April 7, 1945.
Hilda and her sister stayed in Denmark for a few weeks, then they were taken to Sweden, where the Swedish Red Cross took care of them. Later on, Hilda stayed with a family and also worked in Sweden. She stayed there for almost three years. In 1948, she came to the United States with her sister. First they lived in New York with relatives, then Hilda came to St. Louis, Missouri.