Holocaust survivor, who survived multiple Nazi concentration camps and then dedicated her life to sharing her story with children across the UK, has passed away at the age of 1998.
Freda Wineman, who was born in France but emigrated to London in 1950, survived periods in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald’s Ragun, and Theresienstadt before being liberated in May 1945.
Freda survived the ordeal in which her brothers and parents were murdered.
Freda lived her entire life sharing her story in schools throughout the UK after she had married and moved to the UK at the end of World War II.
For her contributions to Holocaust education, she received the British Empire Medal in 2018.
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Freda Wineman (born in France), emigrated from London in 1950. Freda survived Nazi concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald’s Ragun before she was liberated in May 1945.
In 2015, the Holocaust educator is pictured. She spent most of her adult life telling the story in schools throughout the UK after the Second World War. For her contributions to Holocaust education, she received the British Empire Medal in 2018.
Wineman’s social media efforts have been honored by many, including the Holocaust Educational Trust who described Wineman as a “special woman”, and Sajid Javid (Health Secretary) who said she was blessed to have had the opportunity to meet Wineman. We wish her memory a blessing.
Freda was born in September, 1923, in Metz, France, and when she was eight moved with her parents and three brothers to Sarreguemines – near the French border.
As the Second World War loomed in August 1939, the family evacuated to the south west of the country with nothing but the clothes on their back – and when German forces invaded a year later, life quickly became difficult for them.
Wineman’s terrified mother turned to a convent in Le Puy for help but before they were able to go into hiding the family were arrested and sent to Drancy, an internment camp on the outskirts of Paris.
She recalled the horror as part of British Library’s National Life Stories collection. Only my mother… My mother lost all confidence. For her, it was over.
Wineman, pictured in London after his 1950 emigration. David was a British citizen she got married to and gave birth to two children.
The family were quickly sent in a cattle car – with 125 people crammed into one wagon – to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Nazi-occupied Poland.
“From time to time, they gave you water,” she stated about her time at the death camp.
“You know that there had been terrible scenes already, you know? Because people needed to be free, they didn’t have any facilities.
When the family arrived at Auschwitz after around three or four days of travelling, they immediately faced the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, for selection – either for the work camps or gas chambers.
Wineman recalled that Mengele told her to give birth to the child of a young Dutchwoman. Guards claimed that the guard would take care of the children at the camp.
She recalls: “He said that you should accompany the younger ones.” They will take care of the children while the old ones look after them.
Campaigner: Wineman, then Prime Minister David Cameron is seen signing the Book of Commitment in 2013, ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day
“He seemed smart, well-groomed, and confident. My mother told me, “It’s over, it’s over, this is the end.”
Her mother, Marcel’s young brother, was taken to the gas chamber along with Marcel. While her brothers and father were sent to work at the male camp, her father and siblings were sent to her.
Wineman was ordered to go with other young women who had been selected to work in the camp, soon being stripped of her possessions, shaved, branded with the number A.7181 and set to work digging trenches in front of the crematorium.
As Jews were murdered and their bodies burned, Freda described Birkenau’s sky as ‘black’ from the smoke, adding: ‘we thought it was night time all the time’.
After two months, she was forced to work as Kanada Kommando – sorting through belongings of prisoners and murder victims whose valuable possessions would be sold on to fund the Nazis.
Wineman used to smuggle clothes back in for her girls, but three of her closest friends were captured and executed. She was then moved back into the trenches.
She stated, “We had to stand there, we had to see how our three best friends had been murdered,”
‘From that point onwards we weren’t allowed to work there anymore, and were put in a punishing team. This was a time that we were terribly depressed because we lost our friends. We were then punished by the SS with their dogs and had to dig trenches and were beaten up.
Wineman also recalled the terrifying weekly selections, where Mengele would pick which prisoners would survive and who would be sent to the gas chambers.
She stated that if a prisoner was too weak to work, they would be sent to death.
“I can promise you that, when you pass Mengele you didn’t look at him in the eyes. I can also assure you, it wasn’t quick enough because you knew that, if he points to his finger, that would be your death sentence. You had it,” she stated.
When the Sonderkommando revolt occurred in October 1944 – which saw prisoners attack SS guards, killing three and injuring a dozen Nazis – Wineman was moved from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen.
After another prisoner scratched her belly with his dirty toenail, she suffered an abscess.
The Holocaust educator said prisoners didn’t work at Bergen-Belsen and were woken up daily by being beaten with a stick. The conditions in Bergen-Belsen were poor and food was limited. Many people died due to starvation or lack of medical care.
From February 1945, when she died in Bergen-Belsen, she remained there. sent to a sub-camp of Buchenwald to work in an aeroplane factory with 750 other women.
Ragun arrived at camp with an abscess on her finger. Ragun was then forced by another prisoner to remove the tip with scissors.
Wineman was again moved to Theresienstadt, now Czech Republic by the Allies as they advanced.
Wineman is pictured with Boris Johnson in 2015 as he hosts Holocaust Memorial Day at City Hall, London in 2015
On May 9, 1945, she was liberated by Soviet troops and discovered that her father and brother Marcel, had been murdered at Auschwitz.
On June 4th, she returned to Lyon where she was hospitalised with typhoid before finally being reunited with her remaining brothers David and Armand in August 1945.
Five years later, she married her husband David and moved to the UK, having two children and working to spread awareness of the Holocaust.
Wineman, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2018 for her service to Holocaust education, continued to live in London until her death this week, having dedicated her life to sharing testimony with students across the UK.