First Person with Arye Ephrath, May 30, 2019

Through the First Person program, Holocaust survivors have the opportunity to share their remarkable personal stories of hope, tragedy, and survival with thousands of visitors at the Museum. This program was recorded on May 30, 2019. It features Arye Ephrath, who was born into a Jewish family on April 7, 1942, in Bardejov, Czechoslovakia.
Arye was born the same day as the first deportation of Jews from his hometown. Nazi authorities had ordered Jews to report to the town square, but Arye's mother, Miriam, ignored the order. She gave birth in the basement of their home with assistance from her maid. Arye’s father Samuel was absent during the birth as he had escaped to evade the Nazis. Samuel decided to remain in Czechoslovakia, but Miriam was able to get to Hungary with Arye. Miriam and Arye moved from inn to inn to avoid detection, splitting time between Budapest and Beregszasz. In 1944, the Nazis revoked Arye’s father’s work permit. He escaped to Sisov, a village in western Czechoslovakia, with his wife and Arye.
A local priest agreed to hide Arye’s parents, but not Arye as he posed too much of a risk as a young child. Jan and Irena Mierni, a local shepherd and his wife, agreed to take Arye if he would dress like a girl in order to avoid suspicion from the townspeople, because the couple only had daughters. The Miernis changed Arye's name to Annicka for the duration of his time in hiding.
Later, Arye's parents, fearing a Nazi raid of the church, found another place to hide. They hid for eight months in a hole dug in the ground covered by hay. Finally, on Arye’s 3rd birthday, the Soviet Army liberated Czechoslovakia and Arye was reunited with his parents.

[@lucilleducote4229]

I love listening to & seeing these survivors. It inspires me to keep going in life. They lost everything but still managed to live and still be thankful. Powerful!

[@elizabethmchenry3102]

I feel that this man is very articulate and his testimony is so detailed and precise.Thank you so much for sharing this painful testimony.