Split, Yugoslavia

Esther Kaidanow

I was born in Split, Yugoslavia. My parents, two sisters and brother had a good life in a close-knit Jewish community. While Italian Fascists ruled, life was difficult but bearable. Jewish schools were closed and Jewish businesses were confiscated. A neighbor warned my family when the Nazis entered the region. Thinking only men were in danger, my father and brother left. Soon after, a neighbor warned us that now women and children were to be collected as well. We were hidden in a number of homes and escaped to the mountains. After liberation, my mother and her sister went to a DP camp in Italy. Finally we were reunited with the family except for my oldest sister, who was taken to the United States.