The Moment She Lost Her Family Captured in a Photo

Irene Weiss, a Holocaust survivor and Museum volunteer, stands in front of a photograph of herself when she was a child arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau, on display in the Museum’s main exhibition. USHMM (historic image Yad Vashem)

The scene is seared in Irene’s memory. One minute she was holding hands with her younger sister. The next, a Nazi officer separated them with his baton, and 11-year-old Edith was swallowed into a crowd, unknowingly bound for a gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Decades later, Irene discovered the most painful moment of her life had been documented by a Nazi photographer. She saw her 13-year-old self, wearing a scarf and leaning forward, searching for Edith.

In this digital program, Irene shared the story of the day her family was torn apart:

#HolocaustRemembranceDay: The Moment She Lost Her Family Captured in a Photo