Alfred Ament (M / Austria, 1927), Holocaust survivor

Alfred Ament (M / Austria, 1927), Holocaust survivor

Hans Ament (M / Austria, 1934-1944), Holocaust victim

• KEYWORDS : <Austria> <Refugees> <Belgium> <France> <Hidden Children> <Fugitives> <Switzerland>

Biography

Born September 15, 1927 - Vienna, Austria

USHMM Profile

Alfred Ament was born on September 15, 1927 in Vienna, Austria to Max Ament (6/28/1895-and Ernestina Ament. His brother, Hans Ament (1934-1944) was born in 1934. In December 1938 or early 1939, the Ament family fled to Belgium. They applied for and received visas for the United States in 1940. The family was placed on waiting lists for passage on a ship. In May 1940, Max Ament was arrested and sent to an internment camp in the south of France. In the spring 1941, the rest of the family received a postcard ordering them to report for deportation. They fled to Marseilles, France. In spring 1942, Ernestina Ament was hospitalized. Alfred was sent to a home for teenagers and his brother Hans was sent to a children’s home. In 1943, the Nazis began raiding the children’s home. Alfred was sent to hide on a farm with two other children. In March 1944, Alfred and 30 other children escaped to Switzerland with false identification cards. Alfred spent the rest of the wars in a refugee camp, and later in a boarding school in Switzerland. He was able to correspond with his mother until she died of tuberculosis. In May 1945, Alfred learned that his father had been killed in either Sobibor concentration camp or Majdanek concentration camp. His grandparents and younger brother Hans were killed at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Museum of Tolerance

Alfred, the son of a manufacturer, was an eleven year-old when the Germans annexed Austria. When Alfred was six years old, his brother Hans was born. He spent a lot of time playing with Hans, teaching him to ride his tricycle and play with a wind-up train.

After the annexation, Alfred's family fled to Belgium, where they immediately applied for visas to the United States. They received the visas in early 1940, but were put on a waiting list for berths on a ship. Alfred attended school and quickly learned Flemish. He made new friends and went to soccer games and swimming matches.

In May 1940, during the Nazi invasion, Alfred's father, who held a German passport, was arrested and sent to an internment camp in the south of France. That fall, Alfred had his Bar Mitzvah without his father.

In spring 1941, Alfred's mother sold his stamp collection to feed the family. Later on she sold her engagement ring. When they received a postcard ordering them to report for deportation, they fled to Marseilles in unoccupied France. In spring 1942, Alfred's mother became ill and was hospitalized. His brother, Hans, was sent to a children's home and Alfred was sent to a home for teenagers.

Even though he worked in the kitchen, food was scarce, and Alfred was often hungry. In the winter of 1943, the Nazis began raiding children's homes, and Alfred was sent to hide on a farm with two other children. He learned to milk cows and to clean the pigsty.

In March 1944, Alfred and a convoy of 30 other children escaped to Switzerland with the aid of false identity cards. Close to the border, the children scaled a ten foot-high barbed wire fence and fell onto Swiss soil.

Alfred spent the rest of the wars in a refugee camp, and later on in a boarding school in Switzerland. He corresponded with his mother until she died of tuberculosis. Sometime after the war, in May 1945, he learned that his father had been killed in a concentration camp, and that his grandparents and his little brother, Hans, were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp. Alfred was an orphan at seventeen.

AJPN

Ernestina et Max Ament, né le 28 juin 1895 à Sanok (Pologne) étaient autrichiens et habitaient Vienne avec leurs fils Alfred né le 15/09/1927 à Vienne (Autriche) et Hans (dit Jeannot), 10 ans, né à Vienne (Autriche) le 15 février 1934.

Après l'annexion de l'Autriche au Reich, la famille arrive à Anvers en Belgique et demande immédiatement un visa pour les Etats-Unis. Ils recoivent les visas en mars 1940, mais sont en liste d'attente pour trouver une place sur un bateau.

En mai 1940, lors de l'invasion nazie de la Belgique, Max Ament, détenteur d'un passeport allemand, est envoyé au camp de Rivesaltes.

Alfred fête sa Bar Mitzvah sans son père.

Au printemps 1941, Ernestina Ament vend sa bague de fiançailles et une collection de timbres pour nourrir sa famille et décide de partir en France.

Ils arrivent à Marseille dans l'espoir de retrouver Max transféré au Camp des Milles.

Au printemps 1942 Ernestina tombe malade est hospitalisée. Alfred est envoyé dans un foyer pour adolescents, tandis que Hans (dit Jeannot) est envoyé dans un foyer pour enfants à Izieu.

Au début de l'année 1943, Max Ament est transféré du camp des Milles vers Drancy et sera déporté sans retour de Drancy à Auschwitz par le convoi n° 50 du 4 mars 1943.

Durant l'hiver 1943, Alfred est déplacé par sécurité et envoyé dans une ferme avec deux autres enfants.

En mars 1944, Alfred et un convoi de 30 enfants sont envoyés par l'OSE en Suisse munis de faux papiers. Il passe le reste de la guere dans un camp de réfugiés puis dans un pensionnat en Suisse.

Ernestina Ament hospitalisée pour tuberculose le 23 mars 1944 au Sanatorium de l’Espérance à Hauteville-Lompnès (Ain) pas loin d'Izieu où est caché son fils Hans, décèdera des suites de sa maladie le 7 août 1944.

Arrêté parce que juif le 6 avril 1944, par la Gestapo de Lyon, sur ordre de Klaus Barbie, 34 enfants et 4 adultes sont déportés sans retour à Auschwitz-Birkenau le 13 avril 1944 par le convoi n° 71. Hans est déporté le 30 mai 1944 par le convoi n° 75.

En mai 1945, Alfred qui avait perdu sa mère un an auparavant, apprend que son père, ses grands-parents et son petit frère ont été assassinés dans les camps de la mort. Orphelin à 17 ans, il émigre aux Etats-Unis après la guerre.