Another Holocaust miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at
Belsen!

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4027691

Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen

By Laura Elston, PA

Gena Turgel entered the gas chamber at Auschwitz and lived to tell the
tale.

In the winter of 1944, the 21-year-old was made to strip naked with
her mother inside the concentration camp's extermination block and
wait, but miraculously the deadly poison was never released.

"We were trembling. I didn't know where we were. Inside, it looked
terrible. A woman came in that I recognised from a previous camp. She
was very shocked I was there and went out again.

"We waited a while and then water came through the walls. It was
wonderful. For many weeks we had had no water on our backs. We were
all drinking it.

"As we came outside, the women there said how wonderful it was to see
us. They screamed with happiness. I didn't understand what they meant.
I said ‘What are you shouting about?'

"They said ‘Don't you know? You were in the gas chamber.' I lost my
voice. I couldn't produce any saliva."

Gena puts her survival down to a "power over a power" and believes
that God was watching over her.

"The woman who came in. I never saw her again. Perhaps she did
something."

More than 60 years on, the great-grandmother still cannot believe how
lucky she was to escape death.

"Many times, I have to touch myself to check I'm really alive. One
appreciates life so much."

The 81-year-old found something in the death camps that she never
expected – love, in the form of her husband Norman.

A Jewish soldier with the British Intelligence Corps, Norman Turgel
was one of the first liberators to enter Belsen on April 15, 1945 and
was charged with rounding up the SS commanders.

Gena, whose surname then was Goldfinger, was imprisoned in the camp
after being sent there from Auschwitz.

During late 1944 and early 1945, some 60,000 Jewish inmates from other
concentration camps were transported to Belsen in north-west Germany.

When the liberators arrived they found more than 20,000 naked corpses
of prisoners, who had starved to death, lying unburied on open ground.

Many survivors were ill with typhus.

Gena showed Norman around the camp's makeshift hospital wards where
she was working as a nurse and a few days afterwards he invited her to
the officer's mess.

For the Sergeant, it had been love at first sight.

"When the door opened, the tables were decorated with white cloths and
flowers, which I hadn't seen for six years," Mrs Turgel said.

"I asked Norman whether he was expecting any special visitors. He said
‘This is our engagement party'. I didn't know the man, but he was very
stubborn.

"When he first met me, he made up his mind."

She added: "He had beautiful eyes. I didn't hate him but I was
terrified of what I was letting myself in for."

Her persistent suitor refused to give up and the pair were eventually
married six months later. The bride's dress was made out of a British
parachute and is now housed in the Imperial War Museum.

The couple were married in a surviving Jewish synagogue in Germany
used during the war as a cattle shed.

Journalists greeted their arrival in England, keen to report the love
affair that had blossomed amid the horrors of Belsen.

Gena was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1923. The Nazis began bombing the
city in 1939 and by the autumn of 1941 the family had been forced to
move into a nearby cramped, squalid ghetto for Jews.

For Gena, it was the execution of four of her siblings which haunted
her in the years afterwards.

"My eldest brother went down to the sewers to go to the French
resistance. He was caught and shot. My other brother was shot in the
ghetto," she said.

In 1941, her 17-year-old sister Miriam was murdered after the Nazis
caught her trying to bring food into the Plaszov camp, where the
family had been taken.

"We had to carry wood for the bodies to be burned. Imagine how my
mother felt carrying wood for her daughter to be burned.

"My sister used to sleep on my left side. My arm is always in a
constant chill, even now."

In December 1944, Gena, her mother and her other sister Hela were
moved on foot to Auschwitz, walking for three weeks in freezing
temperatures as low as minus 20C.

After a few weeks and her encounter with the gas chamber, Gena and her
mother were transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp in
Germany and then shortly after to Bergen-Belsen.

They were forced to leave Hela behind and never saw her again.

Gena, who now lives in Stanmore, Middle, wrote a book about her
experiences called I Light a Candle.

Norman, who died nearly ten years ago, contributed a chapter about
what he had witnessed.

Gena was awarded an MBE in 2000 for services to the Holocaust
Foundation. The couple had worked hard to educate children about
genocide.

On January 27, Holocaust Memorial Day, Gena will show the Queen to her
seat at the ceremony for survivors in London.

The memories of what happened are still all too vivid. "I try to be
occupied all the time," she said.

"I have two daughters and a son, eight grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren. It's a wonderful feeling to have family and to
see it all – I was so thankful to God for that."

Indeed the Holocaust is full of miracles.

From:	colonel_blandish at yahoo.com.au
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 14:44:11 -0800

Only since Schindler's List

So Gina wasnt in a gas chamber? I thought there were no dual purpose
chambers and that the shower heads were dummies

I have been to the central sauna in Birkenau and there is no way you
would mistake that as a gas chamber. Its full of large windows for one
thing.

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 15:49:16 -0800

We don't even know whether she was at Birkenau or at the Stammlager.
Also, it didn't necessarily had to be the Zentralsauna.

And it's we who know that windows are not supposed to be in the gas
chambers, not necessarily every survivor.

From:	Darkfalz
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	23 Jan 2005 04:23:27 -0800

The Allies only had to prove the greatest massacre in modern history,
why would they would bother with pointless things like autopsies when
they had a bunch of typhus and starvation survivors more than happy to
say anything they wanted at Nuremberg?

From:	Darkfalz
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 04:57:28 -0800

Damn, I guess it was God himself who turned the deadly Zyklon-B
crystals into water for her.

Zyklon B saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It didn't
kill any.

Zyklon B - a Jew's best friend.

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	23 Jan 2005 05:13:07 -0800

Autopsy performed on ashes is a brave, novel concept, introduced by
the gallant Revisionists. It will surely make a breakthrough in
historiography and criminology!

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	23 Jan 2005 02:50:25 -0800

Gina could have been in Zentralsauna at Birkenau, or at other delousing
installations at Birkenau or Stammlager.

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 14:37:22 -0800

In fact, it does explain testimonies like those Howard's aunt. People
confused Sauns and other buildings with gas chambers.

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 17:01:09 -0800

No idea.

From:	Schorsch
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 05:03:05 -0800

Darkfalz wrote:
> Damn, I guess it was God himself who turned the deadly Zyklon-B
> crystals into water for her.
>
> Zyklon B saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It didn't
> kill any.

Hey Darkfalz,

I also would not know the name of single Jew that was intentionally
killed by Zyklon B. Do you know any such name?
>
> Zyklon B - a Jew's best friend.

From:	Roger
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	Sat, 22 Jan 2005 14:56:01 GMT

In one age, called the Second Age by some,
(an Age yet to come, an Age long past)
someone claiming to be Schorsch wrote
in message
<1106398985.085150.13140@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>:

>Darkfalz wrote:

>> Damn, I guess it was God himself who turned the deadly Zyklon-B
>> crystals into water for her.
>>
>> Zyklon B saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It didn't
>> kill any.

.... all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding...

>Hey Darkfalz,
>
>I also would not know the name of single Jew that was intentionally
>killed by Zyklon B. Do you know any such name?

http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Welcome

Knock yourself out.

From:	colonel_blandish at yahoo.com.au
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 21:01:27 -0800

But it seems that Gina wasnt in gas chamber either?

Because as you say it must have been a sauna - all those shower heads
were dummies. And if she was in Auschwitz I the gas chamber had been
dismantled at that time.

Correct?

From:	colonel_blandish at yahoo.com.au
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 14:24:36 -0800

I think this is called Get-Michael-Howard-out-of-a-hole testimony.

Howard's aunt was in a gas chamber 3 times and survived each time?
Thats nothing a whole host of "survivors" will come forward and say
they survived them 4,5, or even 6 times. Although a wonder if her book
"I light a candle" mentions that incident.

Incidently
"Gena Turgel is a Polish Jew who survived years of cruelty and
starvation during the Holocaust. Her three brothers were shot, her two
sisters died in appalling circumstances and she had to fight to save
her mother's life several times in the camps. Now in her 80's, Gena
spends her life making sure people - especially young people - never
forget the horrors of the Holocaust."

but as far as I can tell she has only put her sister up
http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_9I?last_name=Goldfinger&first_name=&location=&next_form=results

And even then spells the place name in a variant I have not seen before
and appears to be confused about her age.

Roger wrote:
> In one age, called the Second Age by some,
> (an Age yet to come, an Age long past)
> someone claiming to be Schorsch wrote
> in message
> <1106398985.085150.13140@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>:
>
> >Darkfalz wrote:
>
> >> Damn, I guess it was God himself who turned the deadly Zyklon-B
> >> crystals into water for her.
> >>
> >> Zyklon B saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It
didn't
> >> kill any.
>
> ... all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding...
>
> >Hey Darkfalz,
> >
> >I also would not know the name of single Jew that was intentionally
> >killed by Zyklon B. Do you know any such name?
>
> http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Welcome
>
> Knock yourself out.

From:	morghus
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	23 Jan 2005 06:13:54 -0800

Sergey Romanov wrote:
> Autopsy performed on ashes is a brave, novel concept, introduced by
> the gallant Revisionists. It will surely make a breakthrough in
> historiography and criminology!

No one found any ashes either. No ashes, no bones, no
graves--nothing to suggest anyone was killed. They did find some
railway transport records showing that people were transported from one
place to another. And that's all the hucksters needed to conjure up
estimates of millions of dead people. That's the documentary evidence
of the holocaust: train records.

From:	Ron Jacobson
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	Sun, 23 Jan 2005 18:57:35 +0000 (UTC)

In article <1106489634.633343.133270@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
morghus wrote:

>No one found any ashes either. No ashes, no bones, no
>graves--nothing to suggest anyone was killed.

Hmm, not really:

A very elaborate study of the mass graves in the Belzec death camp was
conducted recently by a team of Polish archaeologists, headed by Prof.
Andrzej Kola from the University of Torun in Poland, who is the author
of more than 130 papers on archaeology. The team studied the site of
the death camp, drilling 1,700 bore holes and investigating the core
samples. The results are summarized in an 84 page report (ANDRZEJ KOLA:
"BELZEC. THE NAZI CAMP FOR JEWS IN THE LIGHT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES.
Excavations 1997-1999". ISBN 83-905590-6-4). The study has recovered
human remains over a very large area, to a depth of up to six meters.
The minimal estimate to the volume of the graves is 21,000 cubic meters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1673471.stm

Mass graves found at Nazi camp
Researchers have discovered seven mass graves at the Sobibor Nazi
death camp in north-eastern Poland.

The research team, which began its government-sponsored investigation
in the summer, said the graves - the largest of which is about half
the size of a football pitch - contain charred remains.

The researchers say this is evidence that the Nazis burnt their prisoners
during the final months of the camp's existence.

Some 250,000 people, mostly Jews, are thought to have died in the camp.

RJ.

From:	colonel_blandish at yahoo.com.au
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	22 Jan 2005 15:54:00 -0800

So Sergey, do you think Michael Howard's Aunt was in a gas chamber 3
times or a sauna?

From:	Sergey Romanov
Subject:	Re: Another miracle: Gas Chamber Survivor Who Found Love at Belsen!
Date:	23 Jan 2005 09:06:36 -0800

"No one found any ashes either."

Wrong.

" And that's all the hucksters needed to conjure up
estimates of millions of dead people."

Well, these documents, coupled with witnesses' testimonies are indeed
all what is needed. You see, these people had to go somewhere. But they
didn't. They weren't evacuated to the east. Therefore they were
murdered by the Nazis.