When I was a child, a very close friend of our family from Israel, Joyce Kleinman (now Wilner), and her sister Reisi Kleinman (today Greenbaum) entered the Auschwitz concentration camp. at the ages of 15 and 12. Years later, Joyce's son, Mike Wilner, composed an interview including his mother Joyce and his aunt Reisi, describing the important events that led to the survival of both sisters and illustrating the events that occurred during the Holocaust during from which approximately 6 million Jews were killed. Joyce began the interview by explaining the pre-war period. Joyce Kleinman was born in a beautiful home in Czechoslovakia on September 12, 1925. Although some discrimination was present, no particularly harmful acts were committed against the Jewish community. All races could eat wherever they wanted and all the children were schooled together, Joyce said. This discrimination emerged in 1939, when World War II broke out in Poland. At that time, Joyce was 11 years old and Reisi was 14 years old. Joyce said the two girls often heard sirens outside their windows as well as gunfire as the war raged. They could hear planes flying over the roof of their house and could not open their windows for fresh air because of the terrifying noise. Jews were no longer allowed to go to school and all Jews were eventually required to report to the police station. Since Joyce and Reisi's father was a respected man in the community, the police let them go. As their days were limited in Czechoslovakia, Joyce and her family abandoned all their belongings and fled to Budapest, where their brother was living and planning to get married. Joyce explained that the family had returned to their hometown in Czechoslovakia as a paper center in the town of Bergen. Joyce always had the photos of her family in the soles of her shoes, which gave her the only motivation to live. Bergen served as a camp that the Red Cross opened for prisoners and most of the people brought there died because they were too sick to eat. Joyce was about to give up until she saw a woman who looked very familiar. Joyce was shy and wondered if she should ask who this lady was. She said, “Madam, excuse me, do I know you?” Where do I know you? You look very familiar. This lady happened to be her sister Reisi, who immediately fainted when she looked at Joyce. Joyce, who weighed only 50 pounds, quickly regained her strength under Reisi's care. The interview then ended with Joyce pointing to her sister and saying, "If it's not her, forget it." Without her I would have died.”