“In the end they brought us to Mauthausen,” remembered Yona Dickmann.

“In the end they brought us to Mauthausen,” remembered Yona Dickmann.

More than 80 years have passed since Yona first walked through the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp with her aunt Hela. 

“My aunt was very weak," recalled Yona. "She said, ‘Leave me here.' So I started to cry. I said, ‘No, you have to go. We have to walk.’”

For several days, Yona and Hela lived with little food and water in dangerously overcrowded conditions. Both women were liberated by the US Army #OnThisDay in 1945. They were two of the 197,464 prisoners to pass through Mauthausen. At least 95,000 prisoners died in the camp. 

Photo: USHMM, courtesy of Yona Dickmann

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