VIDEO. At age 3, Lidia Maksymowicz was deported to Auschwitz

“They tattoo very crude numbers on our arm. From this moment, we no longer have a surname, first name or origin. At 3 years old, I became a political prisoner with this number that I always wear on my arm.” In 1943, Lidia Maksymowicz was 3 years old. She was then deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp.

“I did not receive what a toddler should have received”

“I learn very quickly to understand orders in German, a language that is foreign to me. I also learn very quickly that the worst moment we will have to face is the arrival of Professor Mengele at the barracks to choose the children for his work.“Lidia Maksymowicz underwent the experiments of Josef Mengele, a Nazi scientist who wanted to create”a man with extraordinary abilities to colonize all of conquered Europe”.

When the Nazi regime fell, the little girl was released from the camp and adopted by a family. “I did not receive what a toddler should have received. Even when my adoptive mother wanted to hug me to show her affection, I backed away, because any hand extended to me during my life in the camp meant something bad. My whole life is marked by this time spent in the camp, because you can’t stay away or forget it.”

Eighty years later, she decides to testify to what she experienced in a book “The little girl who couldn’t hate”, available in bookshops. “I think that, in a way, it’s my duty and my mission. We must talk about those who did not survive, and we must not forget them”, explains Lidia Maksymowicz.