Itka Bloch was born in Poland in November 1925. She had four sisters and was the youngest. Her father was a carpenter and building contractor. They were asked to go to Palestine [Annotator's Note: geographic region; here she means Mandatory Palestine, 1920 to 1948], but her father did not want to go. He had another opportunity to go the United States, but he did not want to go. He went to Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland]. They had a nice life. Her mother was a German Jew from Leipzig [Annotator's Note: Leipzig, Germany]. They were happy kids. Her older sister was married and had a child in 1938. War came and they were hiding in their shop. In the beginning the Germans were not too bad. There was nothing to eat except carrots. They were later sent to ghettos. There were six people in a small room. One sister went to a concentration camp in 1941.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Itka Bloch to talk about life in a Jewish ghetto in Poland.] Itka Bloch and her family were in the ghetto for about two years. It was very tough. They were lucky as they got some potatoes. Her sister's son was two or three years old. One day the police came, a mix of Germans and Jews, to take the child. [Annotator's Note: Bloch gets emotional.] The mother said to take her instead and they told her she was next. Life was finished for them then. One day, they hung six Jewish men and all of them were made to watch. Her father had to make the gallows they used. Bloch did not see him for days after he finished it. It was a bitter life. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks questions that Bloch does not answer.] Another sister went to Gulimburke [Annotator's Note: phonetic; unable to identify the camp]. She got sick from hunger and was sent home where she died. Bloch's children do not know these stories. [Annotator's Note: A female in the room says to turn the camera off and get Bloch some water.]

Itka Bloch worked in a synagogue. Her older sister worked in a shop. They would sew German uniforms. [Annotator's Note: It is very difficult to follow the story line.] On 18 February 1943, Bloch was coming from a work shift and was told to go to a big place and wait for all the people. This was the cleaning out of the Jews from Poland. She went with her older sister to Sosnowiec [Annotator's Note: Sosnowiec Ghetto in Sosnowiec, Poland]. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if she went in regular train cars or cattle cars. She says regular.] They stood in line for Gestapo [Annotator's Note: German Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] General Ludwig [Annotator's Note: unable to identify]. Bloch's sister was beautiful and older than her. Bloch was 16. The General asked her a question and she did not answer. [Annotator's Note: Bloch speaks in German. She is too emotional to be clearly understood.] Her sister was pulled away. Bloch had wooden shoes. A girl she knew gave them clothes. [Annotator's Note: Her story is very difficult to follow.] She does not know what happened to her. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Bloch to speak English.] The German General said she was the most beautiful girl and asked her how she was doing. At some point, her sister was on the Russian border to escape but came back home. Bloch pushes her feelings away but sometimes it eats her up.

Itka Bloch was sick when she was working in a factory. She worked on a large machine. The German lady liked her and told her she did not look Jewish. She asked her why Jewish people have long noses. One of the women was mean. The nice one was named Agnes. Bloch had a bad toothache. She was sent back to the barracks. She was told she was not allowed to walk on the pavement. The camp had a big sign that said, "work makes life sweet." Bloch had her tooth pulled and did not return to work. Bloch was in Oswiecim [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland]. She shared a room with intelligent girls who spoke English. They helped her a lot. They did not work on Sundays. They were very hungry for six years. One day, they got black coffee and a piece of bread. Polio was going through the camp. Those people would leave the camp. Every group had two soldiers with rifles with them. Bloch told a friend they had to run and get something to eat. They ran to a house. The woman felt sorry for them and gave them food. They took some food in their clothing to the other girls. They did it more. One time, a woman got the Gestapo [Annotator's Note: German Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] instead of giving them food. They ran and the man did not see them. One night they did not have a place to sleep. A farmer let them in to sleep. A lot did not let them in. They walked day and night. [Annotator's Note: Bloch does not say when or where this was.] At another place, a German woman saw that she had no shoes. The woman wanted to keep her, but Bloch was afraid to stay. The woman gave her shoes that had been her son's. They walked for weeks and then went into a station where they were put into wagons, 30 or 40 girls to one wagon with no windows or seats. They were taken to Bergen-Belsen [Annotator's Note: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany].

[Annotator's Note: Itka Bloch was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany.] Two of her friends from home went to drink dirty water and were shot by soldiers. Bloch had to sleep on cement. She used her shoes for a pillow. One day her shoes were gone. A gypsy took her shoes but gave them back. Bloch was very dirty. She tried to comb her hair. A woman slapped her in the face. Every day more were dying. Bloch was tall and she had to put the dead in a hole. She asked God to throw a bomb and finish them. The camps were half women and half men, but she never saw the men. Typhus was all over. The Germans gave their jobs to Hungarian soldiers. A woman who ran to see her husband was shot and killed.

Itka Bloch remembers the first tank coming in [Annotator's Note: to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany]. It was the English [Annotator's Note: British 11th Armoured Division, 15 April 1945]. She was not sick then but was very hungry. They gave them cans of food. Bloch ate her food and does not remember anything for a week. She became very sick. They asked if she wanted to go to Sweden. She spent ten days with a fever. She got on a ship and asked for a lemon. The Swedes were wonderful to them. A nurse took care of her and gave her candy. Bloch was sick there for three or four months. The nurse took her to her summer house for two weeks. Bloch was 19. The nurse came to see Bloch and brought her clothes. In Bergen-Belsen, she prayed to God to take them all. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if people tried to kill themselves.] Bloch asks "with what, they had nothing". They slept on cement floors. No one in the world can understand what they went through. It was worse than she is saying now. She was scared every minute of the day. The Germans were highly intelligent. To take little kids and gas them; they never did anything in life. [Annotator's Note: Bloch tells a story about her brother that is hard to follow.] A lot of people did kill themselves. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks where, but she does not answer and instead talks about young kids.] Bloch was scared that they were going to take her parents. Her mother tried to hide every night. Her mother was her life. Bloch worked for her mother. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer states that they can see how painful this is and asks if it is important for Bloch to talk about it.] People cannot understand it. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks her what message she would like to give people in the future.] Bloch asks "what kind of message can you give the people?" Who knows what kind of country is going to come now with Iran, Egypt, Israel, Syria. It is hard to say what is going to bring this out. It is very important for people to learn about the Holocaust. Not one country cares for Jewish people. There are many who would like to see them dead.

Itka Bloch waited a long time to come to America. She likes America very much. She had a choice and picked America. You can always make a living. You have to know how to live. She went to Sweden for two years. Her [Annotator's Note: future] husband was looking for her sister. Her sister had been in a camp cooking for the men. Her sister would steal a potato and give it to a man who was her boyfriend. Bloch's husband was the younger brother. After the war, he was trying to find her. He was asking some people and they said they knew Bloch was her sister. He went to see her. When she left Sweden, he thought she had died. Bloch later saw a letter from her sister, and she passed out. Bloch was a very nervous person after the war. She raised her kids. She had problems and cried a lot. Time heals nothing, but she feels better. She cannot forget . She says she is not strong. She went to Yad Vashem [Annotator's Note: Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Jerusalem, Israel] in Israel and she could not go in. She hopes kids never know what they went through. She hopes people start to think and stop wars. It should be a nice, beautiful life for everyone. People should not hate each other for nothing.