'My mother was scarred for life': Son of Auschwitz survivor shares her story

Susan Singerman lived through atrocities at the Nazis most infamous concentration camp before settling in Glasgow to raise her family

Author: Alice FaulknerPublished 27th Jan 2025
Last updated 27th Jan 2025

The son of an Auschwitz survivor is telling Clyde 1 his mother was "scarred for life" by the atrocities she saw there.

Susan Singerman was born in Szekesfehervar, Hungary in 1925.

At just 19-years-old, three months after the Germans occupied Hungary, in June 1944 she and her family were sent by cattle truck to Auschwitz.

Chosen to live by the notorious Josef Mengele, Susan was the only member of her family to survive while her mother and 12-year-old sister were sent to the gas chambers.

Her son Howard explained: "My mother said 100 of them were squeezed into each cattle truck.

"There was a bucket of drinking water, but that got knocked over on the first night, so there was no water or food for the whole four days of the journey to Auschwitz."

Susan survived unspeakable horrors, but what she always said was essential was not to let the Nazis destroy her humanity, and the humanity of those they were oppressing.

She said she would not let the Nazis "turn her into an animal".

'Death marches'

Between 15th May and 7th July 1944, over 430,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz and only a few thousand survived.

Ant the end of March 1945, Susan was sent with other prisoners on a forced march to Belsen concentration camp.

These forced marches were known as death marches, as most prisoners did not survive them.

On the first night, they were kept in a barn and when they awoke, the German guards were gone and they saw soldiers in the distance.

And as Susan spoke various languages, including English, she was sent to speak to them and she found herself facing a tall black American soldier.

He told her this was the Allied front, but they'd be safe in the nearby village.

Settling in Scotland

Her and the fellow prisoners were liberated on the 1st of April 1945 - and Susan went to Scotland where she had distant relatives living in Ayr.

She settled in Glasgow, where she had two children and studied German and French at the University of Glasgow.

For many years, Susan would not speak of her experiences inside the concentration camp.

However, after retiring as a modern languages teacher in the mid 1980s, she began to speak to young people at schools about her experiences.

She received hundreds of letters from school children saying how moved they had been by hearing her story.

She felt it was vital that what had happened should not be forgotten.

In 1996 she was made an MBE for services to the understanding of the Holocaust.

Survivor's guilt

Her son, Howard Singerman, said: "Once, she asked my family: 'Have I done right by you? Did I deserve to survive?'

"And I think that's very moving that my mother suffered from survivor guilt.

"Ironically, many former German officers and soldiers who've done terrible things, felt no guilt at all. They just said they were following orders, as if that made it all right.

"She did suffer from that guilt and she had terrible loss all her life, having lost all of her family.

"She was scarred for life by the loss of her family, without doubt.

"The Jewish festivals were days full of joyfulness for most. For her, it was just a reminder."

80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

Monday 27 January marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and is annual Holocaust Memorial Day.

Susan passed away on January 17th, 2011 after spending her life campaigning against racism and antisemitism.

Howard added he wants to keep her legacy alive: "This day should mean the dangers that racism, antisemitism, intolerance and hatred can cause should never be forgotten.

"Auschwitz was a place of ultimate horror.

"1.2 million people were murdered there. The bulk of them were Jews, but many were Roma, homosexuals, communists and other political prisoners.

"It was a terrible place. So we must never forget. We must say: 'never again'."

You can read more about Susan's story on the Gathering Voices website

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