In 1941, Ludmilla and her new husband Leopold were imprisoned in the Kraków ghetto in German-occupied Poland. In 1943, the couple was transferred to the Plaszow labor camp. There they were subjected to grueling conditions and arbitrary violence. In fall 1944, businessman Oskar Schindler helped save some Jewish forced laborers by relocating them and his munitions factory from Kraków to Brünnlitz in the Sudetenland. Because of Leopold's previous relationship with Schindler, the couple was included in this group. En route to Schindler's factory in Brünnlitz, Ludmilla and about 300 other women were imprisoned briefly in Auschwitz. Thanks in part to help from Schindler, Ludmilla survived the Holocaust and was liberated in early May 1945. After the war, Ludmilla and Leopold remained friends with Schindler and shared the story of their rescue.
From the beginning, Schindler tried to do everything possible for us, to make our life more comfortable. We didn't have very many clothes. I mean, we didn't have any clothes, only what we had on. So he managed, I think, he allowed our men to steal some wool from a neighboring factory, which was kind of already, empty, I mean, you know, they, they were not working anymore, probably people left it. And, so our men got that wool, and they made also on the machines in the factory knitting needles, and the woman started to knit, sweaters and, little, uh, mufflers and so on, you know. So then, men wanted to smoke. They, I don't know how, but they got hold of some, next door also from, some onions and they were burn, they were really smoking the onion leaves, skins. Schindler, as far as food is concerned, all the surrounding areas were being slowly evacuated, so it was very difficult even for the Germans to get the food but somehow he got food. We were, we were not...we were always hungry, but not like in Auschwitz, you know. We were hungry, but with, with hope for a better tomorrow. We, he, he tried to always, give us a little piece of bread. I had a, a bunk mate who was a, really a master in cutting the pieces of bread. She cut it, I believe, in 13 very thin slices -- piece was like this. So I used to give my husband about eight, and I ate the five, because for me it was enough. He was bigger than I was.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
