Esther Ani Glikzelig

Testimony of Esther Annie (Blum) Glückselig, born in 1929 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, about her experiences as a girl in Vienna; immigration to Eretz Israel in 1940, and internment in Mauritius in 1940–1945 Life before the war; family background; escapes from Vienna in aftermath of Kristallnacht in 1938; difficulty in finding a place to life; "Aryanization" of business; restrictions imposed on Jews; witness moves to a hakhshara (Zionist training venue); deportation of non-citizens to Dachau and Buchenwald; obtaining "certificates" (Mandate Palestine immigration visas); immigration to Eretz Israel with Jewish refugees from Austria and Czechoslovakia; witness receives food from Jews on the way; endures hunger; mortality aboard the ship; reaches Eretz Israel in 1940; deported to a camp in Mauritius; gender segregation; men housed in a prison and women and children in large shared metal shacks; life under harsh conditions; help received from South African Jews; cultural life in the camp including theatre; puppet theatre, orchestra; library, and Scouts activity; religious life; suicides; occupational courses; prisoners suffer from typhus and malaria; re-immigration to Eretz Israel in 1945, accompanied by doctors and nurses from Eretz Israel; reception in Eretz Israel; two brothers, already in Eretz Israel, inducted into Jewish Brigade.