Destined to Live: a True Story of a Child in The Holocaust

Destined to Live

My book is a true story of a girl who survived the Holocaust.

Aurelia Gamzer had lived an idyllic life in Lvov, Poland. Her family was moderately wealthy, and Aurelia was a well behaved child who enjoyed sneaking sweets from her father’s candy shop; and playing with her many dolls. But, after the Hitler made a deal with the Soviet Union to invade Poland, the little girl’s world was turned upside down.

First, the Nazis took all of their possessions (gold, silver, jewelry) then the Nazis started to search houses for Jews so they could execute them. Aurelia and her family had to hide from the Gestapo to survive. After a few months of terror, every Jew had to wear an armband. Aurelia despised her armband, and begged her mother to take it off. All Jews in Lvov feared being taken away to the “work camps”. Aurelia and her family were forced to live in a ghetto. They had to share living quarters with another family, and each room was very, very small. Aurelia’s father had dug a hole under the floorboards so they could hide from the Gestapo.

The living conditions were terrible, Aurelia described there being a stench of chemicals, mixed with urine. Dogs and cats crowded the streets, and trash was thrown out on the street. Aurelia’s father would sneak in small rations of stale bread for his family. Her dad was considered a “useful Jew” so he had permissions to leave the ghetto to work in a factory. Aurelia’s family had come up with a plan to sneak her out of the ghetto so she could live with Christian family. As Aurelia hid under her father’s trench coat, she heard a Nazi yell at a “useful Jew” for taking too long to get his ID card out. The Nazi yelled “Jew” to his dog, and the dog killed the man.

After months of living with a Christian family in hiding, all Jews in Lvov were liberated by the Soviet Union after the Russians sided with the Ally forces. But life still wasn’t easy. All Lvov citizens were to move to Krakow unless they wanted to be Russian citizens. After years of waiting for their Visas, Aurelia’s family finally made their way to America, where Aurelia changed her name to Ruth, married Jack Gruener, continued her education, and gave many talks about life during WWII as a Jew.

Fact: During WWII Lvov was part of Poland, but after the Soviet Union took over Lvov, the name changed to Lviv.