History
When she arrived at Auschwitz, Anka was told to leav-
er her suitcase. She was sent to shower, have her
head shaved, put on a striped uniform, and have a
number tattooed on her skin. She was then sent into a
hut, which housed hundreds of people.
Every day, at 4am and 6pm, there would be a regis-
tration taken of everyone in each hut. People stood
very still outside their huts for hours, waiting to be
counted. Due to lack of food, and excessive work,
Anka fainted on several occasions. Fortunately, she
was held up by her fellow prisoners either side of her,
so she never fell to the ground. Had Anka done so,
she could have been shot dead on the spot.
This sign above the entrance to Ausch-
witz reads: “Work sets you free”.
Anka was later sent to a Freiberg, a slave labour camp, where she thought she would be work-
ing on the V1 rocket. Instead, she was relieved to find that she would be working in a factory
which contained bed bugs (a potential source of food if necessary - fortunately Anka never
had to eat them), heating, and especially no gas chambers. Anka stayed there for six months,
becoming increasingly starved and increasingly pregnant. Luckily, no one noticed, otherwise
Anka would have been sent to a death camp immediately.
When the Allies forces performed the Dresden raids in February 1945, Anka thought it was fan-
tastic. The Nazi officers locked the prisoners in, while they went to air raid shelters. The prisoners
were happy, despite the imminent threat of being bombed, because they knew that the Allies
were coming to liberate them.
In April 1945, the Nazis began emptying the camps – to prevent witnesses providing information
to the Allies. This is where death marches occurred. Anka and many other female prisoners
were put on trains consisting of coal wagons for 17 days, with no food and little water. 2000
women were kept on the train.
One day, a farmer saw Anka on the train, ‘looking like a living skeleton’, and gave her a glass
of milk. Before she could drink it, a Nazi officer raised his whip, threatening to strike Anka if she
drank it. He then lowered his whip, so Anka drank the glass of milk, which she claimed helped
her to survive.
When she arrived at Mauthausen, Anka was apparently so shocked that she went into labour
on the coal wagon. While giving birth, Anka head a German officer saying: “You can carry on
screaming” - showing a complete lack of regard for her situation. Anka thought she was about
to die. Surprisingly, the German officers allowed a doctor (who was also a prisoner) to deliver
the baby, Eva.
Eva counts herself lucky, as she was born on 29th April 1945. On the 28th April, the Germans ran
out of gas for their gas chambers, and then Hitler committed suicide on the 30th April. Eva
weighed just three pounds. Anka & Eva left Prague in 1948 and went to live in Cardiff.
Eva’s mother died aged 95, with three great grandchildren and an extraordinary life story.