Lola Salzmann

I was born on 29 August 1914 in Radom/Poland. My parents' names were Wolf and Gold Cygelmann, née Cyngeser, and they are both Jewish, so I can also be considered a full Jew within the meaning of the Nuremberg Laws.
When the war broke out in 1939, I was living in my native town of Radom, at Szpitalna 10. A few days after the occupation, I had to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David to identify myself as Jewish, and from January 1940 at the latest I had to do forced labour every day.

Source: affidavit for prison compensation; 21 February 1956 New York, Lola Salzman compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

Before the outbreak of the  persecution, I lived with my mother and siblings in Radom. My father had died. I was always healthy and can't remember ever needing medical help. After finishing school, I worked as a saleswoman in a textile shop.

When the Nazis came, my ordeal began. The first thing they did was to drag me to the Radom ghetto. I married my fiancé, Henry Kurc, here in the ghetto in 1940⁽¹⁾.

(1) The ghetto was not established until 1941.

Source: Affidavit for compensation for damage to body and health, around 1967

From here I was dragged to Pionki.
I worked hard in an ammunition factory. I was repeatedly maltreated and often suffered from feverish chills.

Source: Affidavit for compensation for damage to body and health, around 1967

I was then transferred to the Pionki forced labour camp near Radom. This forced labour camp consisted of barbed-wire fenced barracks set up around an ammunition factory and patrolled by armed guards. My forced labour consisted of various tasks in the aforementioned ammunition factory.

Source: Affidavit for  application for compensation for imprisonment; 21 February 1956 New York, Lola Salzman compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

I was then transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where I also had to wear a number on my chest on my prisoner's clothing, which I can no longer remember. After two weeks of imprisonment, I was already transferred from there to the Elsnig-Wasag concentration camp, which was a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. I was imprisoned there until March 1945.
As the Russians approached, I was put on a railway transport that took us Jewish prisoners through various places that I no longer know by name. It was on this transport that I was liberated by Russian troops on 5 May 1945.

Affidavit of 21 February 1956, New York, Lola Salzman compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate