Tova Friedman, one of the youngest Holocaust survivors, spoke at the Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston, recounting her arrival at Auschwitz to about 350 people in attendance.
Friedman mentioned that her mom always told her the truth.
She asked her mom about a strange smell, and her mom pointed out the smoke from burning bodies at Auschwitz.
The 85-year-old captivated the audience with her detailed account of her time at Auschwitz and her life over the past 80 years.
Tova Friedman was born in 1938 in Gdynia, Poland, and her family returned to their hometown of Tomaszow Mazowiecki when the war began.
Tova, one of the youngest Holocaust survivors, endured the nightmare of Auschwitz and was among only five children from her town to survive.
Over 150 of Tova’s family members were killed during the Holocaust.
Friedman shared the horrific story of her time at Auschwitz as a young girl and expressed that luck may have played a part in her survival.
Tova’s memories of the Holocaust are as clear as the tattoo on her arm.
“I remember everything vividly,” she said. “I was just a child when I arrived at Auschwitz, but I felt like an adult.”
Friedman described the unsanitary and harsh conditions endured by prisoners in the concentration camp.
She thought she would be taken to the crematorium upon arrival at Auschwitz, but instead, the new arrivals were taken to the barracks.
“The next day was a Sunday, so there were no executions,” Friedman said. “They were Christians! What kind of Christians were they?”
Upon arrival at the barracks, they were told to undress, and her head was shaved.
Her mom explained that they were being checked for their health, and if they were not healthy, they would have been killed, but instead, they were allowed to work.
When she and her parents arrived at Auschwitz, they were a family, but upon arrival, they were dehumanized and turned into numbers.
“We were no longer human beings, but mere numbers,” Tova said, describing their arrival at Auschwitz.
She shared that Jewish prisoners lived in constant fear and uncertainty.
“We never knew if the next hour would be our last,” she said. “Many were naive and did not realize what would happen. Hitler had a plan, targeting children, the elderly, and educated individuals such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers.”
As a survivor, Tova felt compelled to share her story and shed light on the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.
She said that humans are naturally able to recover from challenges. If we are put to the test, we will endure and eventually recover.
Tova and her parents came to the U.S. when she was 12, and that's when she started her schooling. They resided in Brooklyn, where she met and married her husband, Maier Friedman, who passed away recently, after 60 years of marriage.
Tova earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Brooklyn College and a Master of Arts in Black literature from City College of New York.
Tova and her husband moved to Israel and lived there for more than 10 years. During that time, she taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Upon returning to the U.S., she completed her Master of Arts in social work from Rutgers University and served as the Director of Jewish Family Service of Somerset and Warren Counties for more than 20 years. She continues to work there as a therapist.
Tova has four children and eight grandchildren. She still shares her experiences with students and audiences in various settings across the country.
She emphasized that she is a survivor with an obligation to speak for the 1.5 million Jewish children killed by the Nazis, who are unable to speak for themselves.
Her memoir, “The Daughter of Auschwitz,” became a bestseller in the New York Times. In it, Tova preserves her observations to ensure that the Holocaust is not forgotten. She has utilized her life experiences to honor the victims.
The book was co-written with Malcolm Brabant, an award-winning former war correspondent.
Despite her already hectic schedule, she has become even busier due to current events like the Israel-Hamas conflict, both in the U.S. and worldwide.
Tova emphasized the exceptional importance of speaking out at this time, given the distressing nature of recent events. She expressed her discomfort with the current demonstrations, comparing them to dangerous precedents in history, and pledged to take action to address them.
She asserted that she is currently in good health and alive.
