Buttons in My Soup: The Story of a Buchenwald Survivor

In the camps, hunger is the only true constant. But there are worse things than hunger in Auschwitz.

Moshe-Yankel Zisovitch was only fifteen years old when he faced the selection at the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau. But passing those gates was only the first step on his road to survival. At Auschwitz, young Moshe learned that if he wants to live, he must learn the rules of the camps: do not look the kapos in the eye; stand at attention when called; keep your head down; and be grateful for every scrap of food you can find, even if it is only ‘button soup’ made from the scraps found in the freight trains constantly arriving at Auschwitz, bringing more Jews to be sent to the gas chambers…

But Moshe would not let it be his fate.

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