By sticking together, sisters were able to survive

From a book, "Three Sisters" during World War II.

The three sisters lived in Slovakia, they were all young girls, about 20, 18, and 16, Cibi, Magda and Livi, the youngest. Their father had died, but they had their grandfather who told them to always stick together, never get separated, which proved to be a lifesaver as they helped one another to survive through typhoid and sickness.

Cibi and Livi were rounded up in 1942 along with hundreds of other girls and shipped by train to Auschwitz, the extermination camp. They were packed in cattle cars on the train, standing up for hours, if they had to urinate, they just had to let it go down their legs. Once they arrived at the camp, they went thru the "selection process;" the sickly, weak or old all went to the left, to the gas chambers, healthy, able-bodied ones went to the right, to be assigned work details, either administrative, in the coal mine, or going through the baggage of the ones arriving, sorting things and looking for money, gold, or other things of value to be turned over to the Nazis.

After over two years, Magda was caught and also arrived in Auschwitz (in Poland). Cibi was eventually working in the post office, Livi in the sorting of luggage. Cibi got Magda a job in the post office also. They would watch the trains come in everyday with more Jews, and the selection process by the Nazis , "you go left, you go right." Finally their mother and grandfather arrived, they waved and shouted back and forth to each other, but since they were old, they were told to go to the left, never to be seen again. In 1945, camp officials heard the Russians were coming, and the camp was vacated, and the prisoners began a "death march" to another camp further away. If you couldn't keep up or fell they were shot.

Finally , the guards started to disappear and the three girls went out on their own, eventually met up with the British Army, got back to their hometown, but someone had taken over their house and they were thrown out. Then they eventually all got to Israel where they lived out their lives, all got married, and lived to ripe old ages.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran and business owner in Priest River.