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Names Not Numbers
Ruth Mermelstein
Ruth Mermelstein
Ruth was born on February 29, 1928, in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia (now Mukachevo, Ukraine). Her parents, David and Emma Grunberger, had eight children in total, and Ruth was the third eldest. They lived on Danko Street, a main street in town, with the entrance to their home on Zrinyi Street. Ruth’s father ran a wholesale grocery store,
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while her mother was a homemaker who loved gardening and had a beautiful flower garden. Growing up in a religious household, Ruth attended school until the 9th grade, after which Jewish children were no longer allowed to go to school. She also received Jewish education at home, learning prayers and the aleph beis (Hebrew alphabet).
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In November 1938, the Hungarian army occupied Munkacs, and Ruth began to feel the impact of rising anti-Semitism. Her father was taken to a mill called Monopol for forced labor, where they cruelly pulled off his beard. By 1944, the Nazis had invaded, and Ruth, along with other Jews, was forced to wear a yellow star and observe a strict 6pm curfew. Eventually, Jews in her town were rounded up and sent to ghettos.
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Ruth and her family were taken to a ghetto called Kalush Telep, a brick factory, where they stayed for four weeks. Just before Passover in 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz, including Ruth, her parents, and her siblings, with the youngest child being only four months old at the time.
Upon arriving at Auschwitz on May 24, 1944, Ruth encountered the infamous Dr. Mengele during the selection process.
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In a heartbreaking moment, she witnessed her mother and baby sibling being sent away. When she ran to give her mother a diaper, Mengele stopped her and chillingly said, “Don’t worry; we all take care of these things where they are going.”
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Separated from her parents and brothers, Ruth was able to stay with her older sister and cousin. She last saw her father at Auschwitz, but before their final separation, he gave her three pieces of advice: eat whatever food is given, choose friends wisely, and tell her mother to look for Dovid, the locksmith, if she ever saw her again.
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Ruth worked in the Kanada section of Auschwitz, where prisoners sorted through belongings confiscated from the deported Jews. She vividly recalls long roll calls, freezing conditions, and the scarcity of food. Despite the horrors, Ruth and the other prisoners secretly observed religious holidays. After eight months in Auschwitz, she was forced on a death march and later taken to Reichenbach, a factory in the mountains,
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where she worked making lamps and aircraft parts. During this time, she found a pile of salt and stored some in her pocket, hoping it would be of value later.
Ruth remembers her liberation. She and other prisoners were being transported by train to Hamburg when it stopped unexpectedly. The Nazis had disappeared, and soon after, they were liberated by the Red Cross in Hamburg, Germany.
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Even when they were freed, Ruth and the others found it hard to believe they were truly liberated. Ruth was taken to Denmark as a refugee and then to Sweden, where she finally felt secure in her freedom. She spent nearly a year in Sweden, where young survivors were placed in schools.
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In Sweden, Ruth’s older sister remembered that her mom’s half-sister and her uncle Harry Braun lived in Philadelphia, who helped sponsor their visas to the United States. In April 1946, Ruth and her sisters boarded the first boatload of refugees heading to the U.S. They arrived in New York and lived with their aunt and uncle in Philadelphia, who encouraged them to learn English. Ruth worked at an electrical appliance store during this time.
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Ruth met Ernest Mermelstein, also a survivor, and he proposed to her at the Philadelphia Zoo. They married on February 1, 1948, and moved to Brooklyn, where they raised three children — one daughter and two sons.
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The End
Ruth Mermelstein interview at Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy – 2023-2024
Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy
