Visit to Bergen-Belsen: Yael Atzmon hands over her grandmother's memoirs

The Bergen-Belsen Memorial regularly receives enquiries from relatives of former prisoners who are looking for information or would like to hand over items for the archive. For the colleagues in the "Research and Documentation" department, this is an important part of their daily work. Last Friday, Yael Atzmon, granddaughter of Bergen-Belsen survivor Sara Atzmon, visited the memorial site together with her partner.

Yael Atzmon has published her grandmother's memories together with her as a book, which has been published in German under the title "Und ich habe doch gesiegt!". The granddaughter, who lives in Israel like her grandmother, was on a reading tour in northern Germany and took the opportunity to personally hand over a copy of the book with a dedication to the memorial. For Sara Atzmon, who is now 92 years old, a journey like this would be too arduous, so she was not there in person. Historian Katja Seybold accepted the book on behalf of the memorial and answered questions from the visibly moved visitor. She also showed artworks that Sara Atzmon had given to the archive and which were presented in an exhibition with artworks by other former prisoners in 2010. These included the ink drawing "Der Davidstern Beschützt Uns Nicht" (The Star of David Does Not Protect Us), which was realised as an iron sculpture in 2000.

Sara Atzmon was born Hedvig Gottdiener in Debrecen (Hungary) in 1933. She was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp via various labour and transit camps and was deported by the Schutzstaffel SS ("Protection Squadron") on one of three evacuation transports in the final days before the camp was liberated. The train she was on was liberated on 13 April 1945 near Farsleben near Magdeburg. In the same year, she emigrated to the then British Mandate of Palestine and started a family there. For a long time, she avoided coming to terms with the persecution she experienced at the hands of the Nazis. It was only after a visit to Hungary in the 1980s that this changed and she began to deal with the Holocaust as an artist, also using art objects to tell her personal story. Since the 1990s, her works have been shown in several international exhibitions.