Object numberM2008/029:001
DescriptionRound, cut glass plate, stands on three small glass legs. The plate, from Woolworths, was received as a wedding gift by Yvonne and John Engelman when they got married on 17 May 1949.
“My husband and I were the first orphans to get married in Australia. It was a big occasion to see survivors getting married. Members of the Jewish welfare organization came out to help us celebrate. We had nothing. People pooled together their resources to buy us presents. I didn’t know how to cook or bake. It was trial and error, my poor husband! We were married 66 years.” Yvonne Engelman, 2016
Yvonne Engelman (nee Ibolsa Engel) was born in 1927 in Dovhe, Czechoslovakia, to Rachel and Shlomo Engel. Dovhe was a beautiful village where her family had lived for generations. She was an only child and only grandchild. Her family was active in the Jewish community and she has no recollections of being discriminated against based on faith.
In 1938, life began to change drastically with the Hungarian presence. Their home was ransacked, their business was taken over and Yvonne was eventually expelled from school. Her father was repeatedly arrested and harassed before being sent to slave labour for about 18 months. “My father, taken to the police station, came back with his two front teeth knocked out”.
In 1944, after her father’s return, the family were rounded up and taken to Berehove ghetto, leaving behind all their possessions. They were forced into a large barn which had once been a brick factory. There were no beds or amenities and they lived here in deplorable conditions for several months. She was 16.
Selections for deportation began at the ghetto and Yvonne and her family were locked into wagons for several days with limited access to food and water. They travelled for about 5 days. The last thing her father told her was to promise that she would survive. Arriving at Auschwitz, Yvonne was separated from her family all of whom were sent to their deaths. After selection, she was shaved, washed, and given some rags. After a gruelling roll call each day she went to work sorting the possessions of arriving inmates, looking for any hidden jewels or possessions.
In 1944, Yvonne and the other girls she arrived with at Peterswaldau munitions factory were the first Czech prisoners. Each day after roll call they were marched to work, where they were made to build the clocks for bombs, 10 hours a day. Suffering from scarlet fever, some of her fellow inmates helped nurse her back to health and cover for her at work.
One day in May 1945, the prisoners were locked into their barracks with no food and water. After almost a week, men from a neighbouring camp knocked the fences down yelling that the war was over and that they were free. Not long after the Russian army arrived and they were liberated. Yvonne gradually made her way home where she had to reconcile the fact that she was the sole survivor of her family.
Having spent some time in Prague where she trained in photography, Yvonne received help from a Jewish welfare organization sponsoring orphans to Australia. She arrived on 5 November 1948. She met her husband, John Engelman. Their wedding was the first between survivors, as was their child, making both affairs special occasions. “I was penniless, but happy to walk the street as a free person where no one abuses you. I learned English and met my husband who was also a survivor. Together we worked hard, bringing up our family without relatives, cousins or grandparents.”
“I have four generations; I am the winner, not Hitler.”
“My husband and I were the first orphans to get married in Australia. It was a big occasion to see survivors getting married. Members of the Jewish welfare organization came out to help us celebrate. We had nothing. People pooled together their resources to buy us presents. I didn’t know how to cook or bake. It was trial and error, my poor husband! We were married 66 years.” Yvonne Engelman, 2016
Yvonne Engelman (nee Ibolsa Engel) was born in 1927 in Dovhe, Czechoslovakia, to Rachel and Shlomo Engel. Dovhe was a beautiful village where her family had lived for generations. She was an only child and only grandchild. Her family was active in the Jewish community and she has no recollections of being discriminated against based on faith.
In 1938, life began to change drastically with the Hungarian presence. Their home was ransacked, their business was taken over and Yvonne was eventually expelled from school. Her father was repeatedly arrested and harassed before being sent to slave labour for about 18 months. “My father, taken to the police station, came back with his two front teeth knocked out”.
In 1944, after her father’s return, the family were rounded up and taken to Berehove ghetto, leaving behind all their possessions. They were forced into a large barn which had once been a brick factory. There were no beds or amenities and they lived here in deplorable conditions for several months. She was 16.
Selections for deportation began at the ghetto and Yvonne and her family were locked into wagons for several days with limited access to food and water. They travelled for about 5 days. The last thing her father told her was to promise that she would survive. Arriving at Auschwitz, Yvonne was separated from her family all of whom were sent to their deaths. After selection, she was shaved, washed, and given some rags. After a gruelling roll call each day she went to work sorting the possessions of arriving inmates, looking for any hidden jewels or possessions.
In 1944, Yvonne and the other girls she arrived with at Peterswaldau munitions factory were the first Czech prisoners. Each day after roll call they were marched to work, where they were made to build the clocks for bombs, 10 hours a day. Suffering from scarlet fever, some of her fellow inmates helped nurse her back to health and cover for her at work.
One day in May 1945, the prisoners were locked into their barracks with no food and water. After almost a week, men from a neighbouring camp knocked the fences down yelling that the war was over and that they were free. Not long after the Russian army arrived and they were liberated. Yvonne gradually made her way home where she had to reconcile the fact that she was the sole survivor of her family.
Having spent some time in Prague where she trained in photography, Yvonne received help from a Jewish welfare organization sponsoring orphans to Australia. She arrived on 5 November 1948. She met her husband, John Engelman. Their wedding was the first between survivors, as was their child, making both affairs special occasions. “I was penniless, but happy to walk the street as a free person where no one abuses you. I learned English and met my husband who was also a survivor. Together we worked hard, bringing up our family without relatives, cousins or grandparents.”
“I have four generations; I am the winner, not Hitler.”
Production date 1949
Object nameplates
Materialglass
Dimensions
- diameter: 213.00 mm
height: 30.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Yvonne Engelman