Elizabeth Ester Jaranyi (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

: Herczfeld) (February 19, 1918 – February 26, 1998) was a

survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the memorist of ''The Flowers From My Mother's Garden''.

Early life and Holocaust experiences

On April 26, 1944, the collection of Jews in

Nagykanizsa Nagykanizsa (; , or just ''Kaniža/Kanjiža''; ; ; ; ), known colloquially as Kanizsa, is a medium-sized city in Zala County in southwestern Hungary. It is a city with county rights. It lies not far from Lake Balaton at the meeting point of five ...

began, and they were herded into the Nagykanizsa Ghetto. Around 1800 people were gathered there, including Jaranyi. The ghettoization was handled by Hungarian security forces rather than German soldiers. On April 28, 1944, all Jewish men were deported from the ghetto by train for

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. On May 18, 1944, all remaining people were taken from the ghetto and sent to the same destination. The train ride took six days, which Jaranyi describes in her memoir in detail. When Jaranyi arrived at Auschwitz, she was sorted into

Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

, one camp of many inside of Auschwitz. ''The Flowers From My Mother's Garden'' recounts her time in Auschwitz and subsequent transfer to Neustadt-Glewe, a satellite work camp of the women-only

Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

. Neustadt-Glewe was liberated by American and

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

forces on May 2, 1945. This included Jaranyi's liberation as well as the other Neustadt-Glewe occupants'. ''The Flowers From My Mother's Garden'' also recounts Jaranyi's liberation and time after the war, up to her later life after she had emigrated abroad.

After World War II

After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Jaranyi emigrated to the United States. According to ''Flowers'', she married and had children. She died February 26, 1998, in

Glenwood Springs Glenwood Springs is a home rule municipality and the county seat of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, the city has a population of 9,963. It is located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

In literature

Jaranyi's memoir has been added to the American

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. She has been quoted in Phillip L. Berman's book ''The Search for Meaning: Americans Talk About What They Believe and Why''. In the book, Berman quotes Jaranyi about losing her faith in God during her concentration camp experience in Auschwitz. There is also a section written exclusively about her titled 'Why Me?' Jaranyi is also quoted in ''Re-examining the holocaust through literature'' by Aukje Kluge and Benn E. Williams. Jaranyi is listed in the ''Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors 2000, Volume 3''. She is also listed in ''Dimensions, Volumes 6-7'', a collection from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

of Holocaust survivors.

References

External links

USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Elizabeth Jaranyi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaranyi, Elizabeth 1918 births 1998 deaths Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Hungarian emigrants to the United States Austrian people of Jewish descent Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors People from Nagykanizsa People from Glenwood Springs, Colorado Austrian memoirists 20th-century Austrian women writers 20th-century memoirists 20th-century Austrian writers Austrian women memoirists Memoirists from Colorado