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PHOTO PACKAGE: Auschwitz survivor returns to death camp, 75 years later

ATTENTION EDITORS: This gallery is not language edited, photos have original agency captions. It is filed at internal The Hub site in GDB Pangea for your usage, to be copied/adapted to your sites.

REUTERS:
Jona Laks could smell the burning flesh as she walked towards death at the Auschwitz crematorium. More than 75 years later, aged 90, she has returned to what was the most notorious Nazi death camp of World War Two's Jewish Holocaust.

Laks was about 14 when she was transported to Auschwitz in 1944 with her twin sister Miriam and older sister Chana from the Jewish ghetto of Lodz in Nazi-occupied Poland.

She returned this week as a guest of honor at the international ceremony on Jan. 27 commemorating the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, hosted at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

Jona Laks and her granddaughter walk as they visit the Auschwitz death camp. Jona Laks recalls that  when they arrived to Auschwitz they underwent ‘selection’: as they lined up on the platform, an SS doctor would choose who was fit for camp labor and who was to be killed in the gas chambers. Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”, carrying out selection that day. “Eventually Mengele came over with his dogs and his stick in his hand, ‘left, right, left, right’, I don’t think he was even looking at the people. He looked bored,” Laks recalled with a slight smirk of contempt.
9 Jona Laks and her granddaughter walk as they visit the Auschwitz death camp. Jona Laks recalls that  when they arrived to Auschwitz they underwent ‘selection’: as they lined up on the platform, an SS doctor would choose who was fit for camp labor and who was to be killed in the gas chambers. Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”, carrying out selection that day. “Eventually Mengele came over with his dogs and his stick in his hand, ‘left, right, left, right’, I don’t think he was even looking at the people. He looked bored,” Laks recalled with a slight smirk of contempt.
Jona Laks is a survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins experiments. Mengele, an SS doctor, was known for picking prisoners whom he subjected to pseudo-medical experiments. He had a particular interest in twins. Jona Laks recalls that on the platform, he picked her sisters for labor and sent Laks to die. But when her sister begged Mengele not to separate her twin sisters he seized the opportunity for new guinea pigs and sent an SS officer to retrieve Laks from the crematorium. “I was lucky,” said Laks. “Or maybe unlucky,” she added after a moment.
10 Jona Laks is a survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins experiments. Mengele, an SS doctor, was known for picking prisoners whom he subjected to pseudo-medical experiments. He had a particular interest in twins. Jona Laks recalls that on the platform, he picked her sisters for labor and sent Laks to die. But when her sister begged Mengele not to separate her twin sisters he seized the opportunity for new guinea pigs and sent an SS officer to retrieve Laks from the crematorium. “I was lucky,” said Laks. “Or maybe unlucky,” she added after a moment.
Lee Aldar, the granddaughter of Jona Laks, survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins experiments, takes a selfie of them together as they stand in front of the block number 10 which served as Mengele's laboratory. “I sometimes wonder whether animals could survive the inhumane cruelty we were subjected to,” she told Aldar as they walked slowly towards Block number 10, which served as Mengele’s laboratory. “I don’t think they could.”, said Laks.
11 Lee Aldar, the granddaughter of Jona Laks, survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins experiments, takes a selfie of them together as they stand in front of the block number 10 which served as Mengele's laboratory. “I sometimes wonder whether animals could survive the inhumane cruelty we were subjected to,” she told Aldar as they walked slowly towards Block number 10, which served as Mengele’s laboratory. “I don’t think they could.”, said Laks.
Jona Laks and her granddaughter, Lee Aldar embrace during their visit to the Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, Poland January 26, 2020. Sitting with her granddaughter outside the shuttered barrack, Laks was overcome by a sense of triumph. “I’m here with my granddaughter and I overcame. I won the war. We have a future,” she said.
12 Jona Laks and her granddaughter, Lee Aldar embrace during their visit to the Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, Poland January 26, 2020. Sitting with her granddaughter outside the shuttered barrack, Laks was overcome by a sense of triumph. “I’m here with my granddaughter and I overcame. I won the war. We have a future,” she said.
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