Noemi Ban

Noemi Ban recounts her life. Born on Sept 29, 1922, in Szeged, Hungary, her father was a teacher and principal, and her mother a secretary and bookkeeper. She attended elementary school in Kiskunhalas, then Protestant junior high. She enrolled at Abonyi Gimnázium in Budapest but stayed in Kiskunhalas to tutor, only going to Budapest for exams. After graduating in 1940, her family sent her to Budapest for sewing lessons, believing a trade was safer amid rising discrimination. In 1941, her family moved to Debrecen when her father became principal. After Hungary's occupation by the Germans on March 19, 1944, Jews were forced into a ghetto. Her family, including her sister and brother, was moved to a brick factory. Her father was taken to a labor camp on May 24, 1944. The family was transported to Auschwitz on June 17, 1944; only Noemi entered the camp. She describes camp conditions and the destruction of the Gypsy camp. In August 1944, she was selected for transport to Germany and arrived at the Allendorf munitions factory. Listen to Noemi's Oral History interview at the UW Jewish Archives.