Elisabeth Lefkovits with her sons Ivan (l.) and Paul (r.), Czechoslovakia, c. 1938

Elisabeth Lefkovits - Mental trauma

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“We listened out for news. Who is still alive? With longing and impatience we awaited the time when we would be fit for transport. All we wanted was to go home, to go home, to go home.”

In May 1945 Elisabeth Lefkovits, a Hungarian-Slovak Jew, is seriously ill.
She is in a British military hospital along with other survivors of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her son Ivan is with her.Aged eight, he weighs nine kilos.
His muscles have almost wasted away and he moves around on all fours.
It takes weeks to recover.

“Departure from Bergen-Belsen in July 1945. Onward journey to Prague. Repatriation office, the first money, food coupons. Many noticeboards: I’m looking for my wife…, I’m looking for my husband …, I’m looking for my sister …No one is looking for us.”

Elisabeth Lefkovits has lost 17 members of her family.
Her son Paul and her husband are amongst the dead.
To provide for Ivan, the qualified pharmacist wants to start working again soon.

“I start working at the Salvator pharmacy, but it’s no good. Crying fits and sleepless nights. If someone enters the pharmacy in uniform, I see the Gestapo in front of me.”

Elisabeth Lefkovits has to give up her job. After remarrying she emigrates to Germany in 1968.