Alfred Ament

Disaster survivor

1927 –

34

Who is Alfred Ament?

Alfred and his brother Hans were born in Vienna, Austria. After the German invasion in 1938, Alfred's family managed to flee to Belgium. They applied for American visas, and got them in early 1940. Unfortunately, the were put on a waiting list for a space on a ship to the U.S.

Alfred assimilated quickly to Flemish society. He made friends easily at school, learned the language, and participated in such sports as soccer and swimming. But by the spring of 1942, Alfred's mother was forced to sell her engagement ring and her son's stamp collection to buy food for the family. One year later, the Ament family got a postcard ordering them to report for deportation. They fled to Marseilles, France, which was unoccupied at the time. But Mrs. Ament became extremely ill and had to be hospitalized. Because the Nazis had already sent their father to an internment camp, Afred and Hans had to go to a children's home.

At the home, Alfred worked in the kitchen, but usually went hungry. When the Nazis raided the children's home in 1943, Alred was able to escape to a farm with two other children. He hid there, but had to help out with the daily farm labors. Alfred spent his time milking cows and cleaning pig pens until a false identity card allowed him to join a transport to Switzerland. After scaling a ten-foot, barbed wire fence, Alfred and 30 other children found their way to a refugee camp in Switzerland.

Alfred was able to communicate with his mother until she died of tuberculosis. Alfred was freed in May 1945, and learned that his grandparents and little brother Hans were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp. At 17, Alfred had to face the rest of his life as an orphan with no surviving family.

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Born
Sep 15, 1927
Vienna
Parents
Siblings
Religion
  • Judaism

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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