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Gena Turgel was born in Krakow on February 1, 1923, the youngest of 9 children of Samuel and Estera Goldfinger. Gena lived a pretty normal and happy life until the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Her family was ordered to give up all their belongings and was forced to move to the Krakow ghetto in August 1941. They only had a sack of potatoes and flour. Her brother Willek was shot and killed by the SS, another brother, Janek, escaped but she never saw him again, and her eldest brother was shot trying to escape through the sewers. On March 4, 1942, Gena, her mother, and her sister were sent to the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. Gena’s sister and her sister’s husband were shot attempting to smuggle food. Gena, her mother, and her last surviving sister, Hela, were forced to burn the bodies.  The last of her family was then forced on the march from Plaszow to Auschwitz-Birkenau in December 1944. Months later she was part of the death march to Buchenwald before finally being sent to the Bergen-Belson camp. She survived the bombing of Poland and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she nursed dying Anne Frank.

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When Gena was 21 years old she was herded into what she thought was a shower with hundreds of others. When she walked out a woman said, “Don’t you know what just happened to you? You were in the gas chamber!” Gena said she had completely lost her voice and had not realized she was in the gas chamber. She claimed it must not have worked.

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Describe the impact/outcome of their resistance. 

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Describe the impact/outcome of their resistance. 

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The result of their resistance helped them cheat death. Gena was soon after sent on death marches and then to the Bergen-Belsen camp. The camp was liberated on April 15, 1945. She married Norman Turgel (her liberater)and had 3 children. Gena Turgel lived to be 95 years old, dying on June 7, 2018.

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"I wear a lot of perfume," she whsipers. "The stench of the camps will always stay with me and I try to block it out."
"To cry is Auschwitz could have you shot," she said. We had to be strong, to block out everything."
"We had to carry wood for the bodies to be burned... Imaging how my mother felt carrying wood for her daughter to be burned."

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What happened to them after? Were there any consequences? 

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What happened to them after? Were there any consequences? 

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Since the gas did not work she was sent back to the camp. She mentions that she completely lost her voice, but she was not harmed. There were no consequences for the gas not working, however, Gena was later sent on death marches and to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

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On the first day of the war, September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe bombed Krakow. Before long the Germans invaded Poland and the good times were over. 

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On the first day of the war, September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe bombed Krakow. Before long the Germans invaded Poland and the good times were over. 

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Gena and her husband, Norman, on their wedding day. 

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Gena and her husband, Norman, on their wedding day. 

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“Auschwitz Survivor Gena Turgel Walked Out of Gas Chamber Alive”. NBC News, 26 January 2015, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/auschwitz-survivor-gena-turgel-walked-out-gas-chamber-alive-n293496. Accessed 14 February 2022.

Sheldon, Natasha. “The Remarkable Story Of Gena Turgel, The Bride Of Belsen(Concentration Camp)”. History Collection, 21 July 2018, https://historycollection.com/the-remarkable-story-of-gena-turgel-the-bride-of-belsen-concentration-camp/. Accessed 15 February 2022.