Lucille Eichengreen (''née'' Cecilie Landau; February 1, 1925 – February 7, 2020)Lucille Eichengreen zum 95. Geburtstag
( on her 95th birthday, , February 1, 2020, adding on February 8 that she had died.) was a survivor of the Łódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto and the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

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 ...

, Neuengamme and

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. She moved to the United States in 1946, married, had two sons and worked as an insurance agent. In 1994, she published ''From Ashes to Life: My Memories of the Holocaust''. She frequently lectured on 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 ...

at libraries, schools and universities in the U.S. and Germany. She took part in a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

from the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

on life in the Ghetto, for which she was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

Life

Born Cecilie Landau in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany, on February 1, 1925, she was the older of two daughters of the Polish-born wine merchant Benjamin Landau and his wife Sala (Sara), née Baumwollspinner. She described her childhood as "very nice, very comfortable" before Hitler came to power in 1933. After that, the Jews became exposed to growing repressive measures by the Nazis as well as insults and assaults by the local population. After returning to

in the spring of 1939, Benjamin Landau was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

on September 1 of that year during the attack on Poland, as a "foreign enemy". He was first brought to a police jail in Fuhlsbüttel, then to

Oranienburg concentration camp Oranienburg was an early Nazi concentration camp, one of the first concentration camp, detention facilities established by the Nazis in the Free State of Prussia, state of Prussia when they Hitler's rise to power#Seizure of control .281931 - 1933 ...

, and finally to

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

, where he was murdered on December 31, 1940. The family learned of his death only in February 1941, when the Gestapo brought his ashes, "in a cigar box with a rubber band", to their apartment, as Eichengreen recalls:

Deportation

On October 25, 1941, she was deported, at age 16, to the Łódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto with her mother and her younger sister Karin. In the ghetto, her mother starved to death, dying on July 13, 1942. Lucille found work and survived, living under inhumane conditions. Karin, whom she took care of, was separated from her at age eleven in September 1942, deported to

Chełmno extermination camp Chełmno, or Kulmhof, was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Germany annexed ...

and murdered.Martin Doerry
"Lucille Eichengreen on Surviving the Holocaust"
''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

International'', 2006, retrieved December 10, 2011 Lucille was among female office workers who suffered sexual abuse from ghetto leader Chaim Rumkowski, of which she recalled: "I felt disgusted and I felt angry ..but if I would have run away he would have had me deported."Rees, Laurenc
"Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi state"
''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

'', 2005. Retrieved: 1 October 2011. Lucille worked as a secretary for the journalist and writer Oskar Singer. In 1943, she was hit on the left ear during an interrogation by the Nazi police after a denunciation, resulting in permanent deafness in that ear. In August 1944, she was deported to

Auschwitz concentration camp 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 ...

, where she was deemed fit to work during the selection process. A few weeks later, when she went through another selection process, concentration camp doctor

Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (; 16 March 19117 February 1979) was a Nazi German (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, often dubbed the "Angel of Death" (). He performed Nazi hum ...

sent her to the satellite camp Dessauer Ufer of KZ Neuengamme, where she was forced to perform heavy labour, working in construction and removing detritus from bomb damage. Later, she was assigned to office work, although she was still exposed to mistreatment from supervisors. In March 1945, she was deported to

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

After liberation of the concentration camps

Landau was the only member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust, although it was not until 1947 that she was certain that her sister had died. After the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen camp by the British army, she spent a few months in the camp for

displaced persons Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...

in Bergen-Belsen, working as a translator for the British. In cooperation with the British forces, she identified 40 members of the SS as having worked in the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

, leading to their arrest and trial before a court. After receiving death threats, Landau moved to the United States, where she married another Jewish emigrant from Hamburg, Dan Eichengreen. According to her own account, she struggled to overcome the effects of the traumatic events of her youth and suffered from recurring nightmares. In 1995, she returned to Poland and Germany for the first time since 1945, including a visit to Hamburg after accepting an invitation by the Hamburg senate. She also returned to Auschwitz and the former Łódź ghetto. Eichengreen last lived in Oakland, California. One of her two sons is the American economist Barry Eichengreen. She died on February 7, 2020 at the age of 95.

Work

In the 1990s, Eichengreen began to write her memoirs for publication. Her book ''From Ashes to Life. My Memories of the Holocaust.'' was published in the United States in 1994. After first visiting Germany, she lectured in schools, universities and at commemorative events. She worked with the research unit for Holocaust literature at the

on the chronicles of the Łódź ghetto, a text which gives an account of life in the ghetto. For her involvement, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in the field of language, culture and literature from the university in May 2007. During a 2009 exhibition in Hamburg with the title ''In den Tod geschickt. Die Deportation von Juden, Roma und Sinti aus Hamburg 1940 bis 1945'' (''Sent to Death: The Deportation of Jews, Roma and Sinti from Hamburg, 1940 to 1945''), she was awarded the ''Hamburger Ehrendenkmünze in Gold'' (Hamburg gold medal of honour) by mayor

Ole von Beust Ole von Beust (born 13 April 1955) is a former German politician who was First Mayor of Hamburg from 31 October 2001 to 25 August 2010, serving as President of the Bundesrat from 1 November 2007 on for one year. He was succeeded as mayor by ...

. In 2015, a commemorative volume (''Festschrift'') honoring her work was published.

References

External links

* *
"Ich kann nicht vergessen und nicht vergeben"
(interview, in German) ''

Online'', August 31, 2006 * Meike Behrendt
Die Erinnerungen der Lucille Eichengreen: Von Hamburg nach Hamburg
(in German) ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', September 10, 1993 * Lucille Eichengreens
Forschung/112: Rede zur Vorstellung der Chronik (Spiegel der Forschung - Uni Gießen)
schattenblick.org July 2008
Ashes to Life
webtran.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eichengreen, Lucille 20th-century American memoirists American women memoirists Jewish American memoirists Jewish concentration camp survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Neuengamme concentration camp survivors Łódź Ghetto inmates Children in the Holocaust American people of German-Jewish descent German emigrants to the United States Jews from Hamburg Writers from Hamburg 21st-century American women 1925 births 2020 deaths