Elli Freidmann

Elli Friedmann is a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl who lived with her father, mother and brother. Elli went to school in her little town and her brother Bubi went to school in Budapest. She lived wonderful in her small town with her family that loved her and friends that cared for her safety; she even liked the boys in her school. She wished and daydreamed of being an elegant poet. Her poems were about her family and their struggles. She wrote about the happy times and the dark and stormy horrible nightmares they went through. The words dropped on the paper as the tears rolled down her cheeks. All the bad things were mostly what her poems were about. She did her best and that is why she wanted to be a poet.

In 1994 the Nazi invaded Budapest. First Elli and Bubi couldn’t attend school, then they could not have possessions like jewelry and silver etc., she even couldn’t talk to her neighbors because she was Jewish. They had to sew little ugly yellow star on their clothes. They even had to paint yellow stars on their houses to mark that they were Jews. Elli and her family went through a lot of stuff because she was Jewish.

Then they were forced to leave their house behind to move into a ghetto. Elli’s father is soon forced to go to a labor camp and left Bubi in charge. Then they had to give up all the paper they owned. Elli didn’t; she kept her poems she wrote. She believed that one day her poems would be famous. They were forced to leave all their things at the camp and then they were moved to another camp where all the people were separated - like young women, men and old women and old men were in different camps. Bubi was put in another camp while she and her mom was put together.

Elli and her mom went through about 8 to 9 camps were she was beaten and abused, they went without food for several days and they went without water even longer. Elli went through so much to stay with her mom and she struggled to keep both her and her mom alive. Elli tried to save her mom when she became injured. Later she and her mom were reunited back with Bubi. All three were put on a train to some place beyond their nightmares. Thousands and thousands were loaded up as well. The American planes attacked the train and a lot of Jews died. The Jews were ambushed inside their train cars and Bubi was shot in the head. Elli and her mom kept him going so he wouldn’t die. Two days later and starved, Elli, Bubi and their mom were soon after found by the Americans along with many other Jews. When they got home they found out that they were they were the only survivors in their whole family. Later they moved to America to find a new life in the land of the free.

Elli Freidmann, Bubi Freidmann, Flora Freidmann lived to tell about the Holocaust. That is why I have chosen Elli Freidmann to be my hero because she lived through the holocaust and survived the beatings and went without food and water for days and she was only thirteen when she started. Elli, Bubi and their mom lived through the Holocaust over two years. That would be too long for me. I would’ve died on the first week but not Elli and her family. That is why chose Elli Freidmann.