Anneliese Salamon

Anneliese Salamon / Anneliese Reder (F / Austria, 1930-2014), Holocaust survivor.

• <Refugees> <Czechia> <Theresienstadt> <Liberation of Theresienstadt>

Biography

Anneliese Reder was born August 9, 1930 in Vienna, Austria. She passed away December 11, 2014

Florida SouthWestern State College

Anneliese Salamon was born in Vienna, Austria in 1930. When she was a few months old, she and her family returned to the small Czechoslovakian town where her mother had been born and raised. For nine years, they lived a nice and comfortable life, never experiencing any anti-Semitism.

But in September of 1939 that peaceful life was interrupted. As the Nazis took over the town, Anneliese and the three other Jewish youngsters in her town were forbidden to attend school. Her family's material possessions were slowly taken from them. In 1940, all Jewish families were forced to move onto one street creating a Jewish Ghetto. In this new "world" not only were they required to wear the Yellow Star of David, but were mandated to follow all restrictions placed upon them. Things such as curfew and the inability to walk and shop where they wished became reality.

Without any explanation in August 1941 her parents were taken by the Gestapo. She never saw them again. In May 1942, the remaining Jewish people in town were ordered to report to the high school in the capital city of the region. They were allowed to bring only one suitcase, never being told what was to come. After a stay of three weeks, they were transported by a box car to the town of Bohusovice. From there they marched to the camp Theresienstadt.

On May 8, 1945 when Anneliese was liberated by the Russian Army, she was the only member of her family still alive. She returned to her home town to live with her guardians, made up four of the six years of schooling that she had lost and passed an exam which allowed her to enter high school. She graduated from high school and then college. Later, she met and married another survivor. They had two daughters and continued to live in the country until 1968, when they escaped to the United States.

Anneliese has continued to keep in contact with her close friends made in Theresienstadt. Of the five original, two have passed away. Through all the hardships encountered in her life she has managed to maintain a positive, productive and healthy outlook. She cherishes the family and friends that now surround her, and remains a happy individual.