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Names Not Numbers
Sheva Berger
Sheva Berger
Sheva Sora Wohlberg, known as Bobush, was born on September 16, 1928 (Rosh Hashanah) in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia. When she was a young child, her family moved to the town of Jibou, Transylvania, where she lived with her parents, Esther and Yisroel Shlomo, and her two older brothers, Nuszi and Shayo.
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Her father owned a store in town, and her maternal grandparents, Baruch and Nicha Wechsler, lived nearby, along with most of her mother’s sisters and their families, forming a close-knit family community. Her future husband, Dov (Gudji) Berger, also lived in Jibou with his family.
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Sheva attended elementary school until the Germans invaded when she was 14½ years old. Before the Nazi invasion of Jibou, her brother Nuszi and other young men were taken by the Hungarians to forced labor camps, described as soldiers without uniforms. The town knew little of the Nazis until the invasion, which occurred just before Pesach in 1944.
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After Pesach, Sheva, her family, and extended family members were taken to a brick factory/ghetto in Somjo-Czehi, where they remained for six weeks. Her brother Shayo, who was ill, did not go to the ghetto initially but was later deported to Auschwitz with the rest of the family.
In May 1944, they were transported to Auschwitz in cattle cars, where they were separated upon arrival.
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Sheva stayed with her two unmarried aunts, Ibi and Magda, and her cousin, Renee, for the remainder of the war. The four women survived, as did both of her brothers, an uncle through marriage, and a few cousins. After three days in Auschwitz, they were transferred to Riga concentration camp in Latvia, where Sheva was assigned various jobs, some unnecessary, such as digging and filling ditches, and others more essential, like constructing a building's roof.
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Riga was a family camp with men, women, and children, although they were separated. Throughout their time together, thefour women cared for each other, with each facing moments of illness or danger. At one point, Sheva fell ill and was taken to the “hospital,” but her aunt Ibi saved her before a roundup took place at the hospital.
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As the Germans faced defeat, they evacuated the group to different camps by foot or train, moving towards Germany. They spent some nights in camps for just one night, including Stutthof. At one point, they were put on a boat without a motor or sail and left to drift. Prisoners of war on the boat used blankets to create movement, and when they arrived at Neustadt concentration camp in Germany, the Germans shot at them. Renee was shot in the leg, but soon after, they were liberated by the British.
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After liberation, they stayed in Neustadt, which became a DP camp, for a few weeks. Her uncle Fishel and brother Nuszi, who had returned to Jibou and then come to Neustadt, advised them not to return home. They then went to Eschwege, a town in Germany, under the care of the Red Cross. Her aunt Ibi married her uncle Fishel, who had been previously married to Ibi’s sister, who perished in the war.
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They later moved to Bergen-Belsen by train, where her brother Shayo, who was recovering in a German hospital, joined them when he was well enough. Eventually, they emigrated to America, though not all at the same time.
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Sheva arrived in New Yorkin August 1947 with a children’s transport and stayed with the group in the Bronx for a few months. Her aunt and uncle, Tzvi and Mariam Wohlberg, who had arrived in New York before the war, sponsored her and many others to come to America. She then lived with them in the Bronx, where she worked in an office and learned English.
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Sheva lived with her aunt and uncle until she married Dov (Gudji) Berger, a survivor of a forced labor camp and a friend of her brothers from Jibou, in March 1951. They moved to the Boro Park area of Brooklyn and had three children. Dov worked various jobs before ultimately opening a printing business with Nuszi. In 1978, they moved to Queens. Dov passed away in November 2016, after 65 years of marriage.
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The End
Sheva Berger interview at Bnos Malka Academy- 2023-2024
Bnos Malka Academy
