“One thing after another was forbidden: employees lost their jobs, we were banned from the parks, swimming pools, sports clubs. I was banned from going to school when I was 10,"

Helga describes how she felt her freedom was taken away. She felt trapped and confused as she realized the unfair rules put on her and her family.

"Before being deported, the Jews had to hand in an inventory of all their property. This painting shows my mother counting the items of linen in the chest of drawers while my father notes down the figures." - Helga Weiss

_{"Each person was allowed 50kg of luggage. One suitcase could be sent. People had to carry the rest themselves."}

_{People are shown helping one another even as they dealt with their own struggles.}

"There are 21 of us in quite a small room. Mum and I have 1.20 square metres." - Helga wrote in her diary.

This image shows the crowded environment Helga and countless others were forced to live in.

“Thanks to her subterfuge, she was one of only 150 to 1,500 children believed to have survived of the 15,000 sent to Terezín.”

Due to Helga’s lie about her age, she managed to be one of a minority of survivors. Her clever thinking in a time of hardship led to her survival and creation of a powerful story still thought about today.

“On an Auschwitz station platform in 1944, Helga Weiss and her mother fooled one of the most reviled men in modern history, Josef Mengele, and managed to save their lives.”

When Helga realized she would be sent to the gas chambers to die if she didn't act immediately, she spontaneously lied about her age and claimed she was old enough to work. Her mother was able to convince the Nazis of Helga's lie, which led to her being sent to the forced labor barracks instead of the gas chambers. This encouraged her survival.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2013/feb/22/helga-weiss-childhood-diary-nazi-camps

https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/helga-weiss

"I was always asking my parents, 'What's happening?', and became angry at them if I thought they were trying to hide something, to protect me."

Helga expressed her confusion about the events that were taking place around her because she was still a child.

"We were allowed 50kg of luggage so we took just our clothes and something important to us. I took two very small dolls, a pad, watercolours and crayons,"

This quote shows that Helga was a child when she was forced to deal with the hardships around her.