Irene Fogel Weiss was born in Batrad, Ukraine in 1930. She lived in a small town in Czechoslovakia. It's population consisted of about 1,000 farming families and 10 Jewish families. When Irene was only 8 years old, her town was split and became a part of Hungary. By that time, the Hungarians had allied with the Nazis. Soon, Irene's family had lost all their rights and her fathers business was given to a non-Jew. "It’s an incredibly scary feeling when you’re exposed to anyone’s raw feelings and enmity. These young Nazis habitually roamed around and did tremendous damage to many individuals." (Weiss). When Irene was 13, Nazi Germany invaded Hungary and deported the Jews to Auschwitz, Poland. "Imagine it like this: three generations of your family
