Shopping List
Object numberM2007/045
TitleShopping List
Creator Elizabeth Wise (author)
DescriptionShopping list - ordinary, but not ordinary for the donor, as this was the first one she had ever written in English. Elizabeth Wise (formerly Weisz) is a Holocaust Survivor who arrived in Australia in 1957. The list includes basics like coffee, tea, salt, Cadburys drinking milk, sugar, flour, eggs, butter etc. The price of the items is also listed.
Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Wise (nee Brull) was born in Borsodszemere, Hungary, in 1924. She had one sibling, a brother, Sandor, who was 5 years younger. Her father, Lajos Brull, had a small soda water bottling business. They had their own Torah and kept a kosher, observant life. In 1942, at the age of 18 Elizabeth went to Budapest to train as a hairdresser. In June she moved into a Yellow Star House. On 2 July 1944 the house was bombed but she escaped. At the end of October she was taken to the Brick Factory for selection, marched to the Austrian border, 200kms away. From there she was put in a cattle train and taken to Kaufering concentration camp, Germany, where she spent a few days. From there she was taken to Bergen-Belsen and remained there from the end of November 1944 until January 7 1945. On January 7 1945 Elizabeth was taken by cattle train to a little camp in the middle of a forest, then in the last week of January 1945, she began an aimless, chaotic 600km Death March which lasted about 6 weeks. She was taken by train back to Bergen-Belsen in early March. It was massively overcrowded and with appalling conditions. Elizabeth weighted 34 kilos and was confined to her bunk when the British liberated her.
She was taken to what she thinks was the military hospital in Bergen-Belsen and was there for 12 weeks after Liberation. She had to learn to walk again. She then went by boat to Sweden to recuperate, until October 1945. She then worked in a rubber factory in Sweden until May 1947 when she returned to Budapest. There she learned that her father, mother, brother and grandmother had perished in Auschwitz. She met and later married George Wise in December 1948. On 22 November 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution, she and her husband and 6 year old son, Peter, escaped across the border to Austria, staying in a camp in Steyr for 6 weeks until they were able to come to Sydney. They arrived on 13 February 1957.
Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Wise (nee Brull) was born in Borsodszemere, Hungary, in 1924. She had one sibling, a brother, Sandor, who was 5 years younger. Her father, Lajos Brull, had a small soda water bottling business. They had their own Torah and kept a kosher, observant life. In 1942, at the age of 18 Elizabeth went to Budapest to train as a hairdresser. In June she moved into a Yellow Star House. On 2 July 1944 the house was bombed but she escaped. At the end of October she was taken to the Brick Factory for selection, marched to the Austrian border, 200kms away. From there she was put in a cattle train and taken to Kaufering concentration camp, Germany, where she spent a few days. From there she was taken to Bergen-Belsen and remained there from the end of November 1944 until January 7 1945. On January 7 1945 Elizabeth was taken by cattle train to a little camp in the middle of a forest, then in the last week of January 1945, she began an aimless, chaotic 600km Death March which lasted about 6 weeks. She was taken by train back to Bergen-Belsen in early March. It was massively overcrowded and with appalling conditions. Elizabeth weighted 34 kilos and was confined to her bunk when the British liberated her.
She was taken to what she thinks was the military hospital in Bergen-Belsen and was there for 12 weeks after Liberation. She had to learn to walk again. She then went by boat to Sweden to recuperate, until October 1945. She then worked in a rubber factory in Sweden until May 1947 when she returned to Budapest. There she learned that her father, mother, brother and grandmother had perished in Auschwitz. She met and later married George Wise in December 1948. On 22 November 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution, she and her husband and 6 year old son, Peter, escaped across the border to Austria, staying in a camp in Steyr for 6 weeks until they were able to come to Sydney. They arrived on 13 February 1957.
Production placeSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Production date circa 1957
Subjectimmigration, liberation
Object namelists
Dimensions
- width: 110.00 mm
height: 165.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Elizabeth Wise