Irene Meyer was born in Paderborn, Germany, on July 31, 1925. She was Jewish, the daughter of Henriette and Julius Meyer. She had a little sister, Ellen
Irene Meyer was born in Paderborn, Germany, on July 31, 1925. She was Jewish, the daughter of Henriette and Julius Meyer. She had a little sister, Ellen. In 1942, Irene and her family were deported to the Terezín camp in Czechoslovakia. They were held there for two years. On October 9, 1944, the family was sent to Auschwitz. Irene’s parents and little sister were sent directly to the gas chamber after they arrived in the camp. Irene, however, was selected for forced labor in the camp. She was only in Auschwitz for a short time, and soon she was sent to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Once again, she was there for a short time. She was then sent to the Buchenwald camp, and from Buchenwald, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen. Irene fell ill with typhus in Bergen-Belsen, but survived long enough to see the camp’s liberation on April 15, 1945. Irene, an orphan at age nineteen, was completely alone after liberation. She was extremely weak from her time in the camps, and neve...
