After surviving nearly two years in a concentration camp and a grueling death march, all Eva Ostwalt could think about was being reunited with her daughter.

After surviving nearly two years in a concentration camp and a grueling death march, all Eva Ostwalt could think about was being reunited with her daughter. 

Eva's daughter, Heide, avoided deportation because she was living with her non-Jewish father in Dresden at the time. Eva was finally liberated in May 1945. 

"When the trains were running again, I wanted to go to Dresden where my daughter stayed."

However, their reunion never happened.

"I didn't have any idea about the air raid of Dresden, which happened almost at the end of the war."

Eva arrived in Dresden and learned that most of the city had been destroyed. In mid-February 1945, the Allies bombed Dresden, killing Heide along with 25,000 other Germans. Eva was devastated by Heide's death and years later still struggled to speak of that time. 

Pictured are Eva and Heide in 1932.

Photo: USHMM, gift of Eva Guttsmann Ostwalt

#Holocaust #History #OnThisDay #OTD less