Ursula Levy Survivor Summary- Katherine Alexander

Ursula Levy was born in Osnabruck Germany in May of 1935. In 1939 her father was carted off by Nazi officers. Within two months he was returned home with a gangrenous infection in his leg and he only lived a few more days once returning home. Ursula and her brother George were sent to a convent in Holland that took in children to try to hide them from the Nazis. In 1943 Ursula and George were deported to Vught Concentration Camp in Holland. While in this camp Ursula had her eighth birthday and she was allowed a visit by Mr VanMacklenberg. While he was visiting the camp he mentioned her blue eyes and that she had one American parent. Ursula believes this may have helped her and her brother survive. It was a lie, of course, but one that helped her and her brother get some privileges that others didn’t have.

In October 1943 they were taken to Westerbork where they lived in an orphanage barrack in the camp until February 1944 when they were deported to Bergen-Belsen. At Bergen-Belsen Ursula lived in the same barrack as her brother George, and they were starving. They were given some sweet hot drink in the mornings, rutabaga soup (which she said was really just flavored water) for lunch, and a piece of bread for dinner. Ursula and her brother George stayed in the star camp which is where they put prisoners who were intended for exchange. There was still some question about their heritage.

In the spring of 1945 the camp was loaded onto a train to be moved, but the train never really went anywhere. Ursula said they were allowed to get off the train, and they could have escaped at any time, but everyone just kept returning to the train even though there was never any food. Of the 2600 prisoners that were loaded onto that train, only 600 survived. The Russians liberated the train after two weeks and told the survivors to go to the small village of Trabitz which had been evacuated before the Russian armies showed up. She and George both came down with Typhus, a disease perpetuated by lice, and they miraculously lived through it. When they were better they learned that their mother had not survived the war. After leaving Trabitz Ursula and her brother lived with Joseph and Agnes VanMacklenberg for several months while recuperating. Then they were sent to America in 1947 to live with their aunt and uncle in Chicago.

“When a crumb of bread can be the difference between life and death, it would have been so easy for someone to snatch that piece of bread and no one ever did, and I find that remarkable.”- Ursula Levy speaking on the character of the people she was in camp with.

“It was a wonderful experience to be free, to have survived. At the same time it was very sad.”- Ursula Levy relating her feelings upon being liberated by the Russians.