Survivor Profiles: Renée Firestone

Renée Firestone (née Weinfeld) was born on April 13, 1924 in Užhorod, Czechoslovakia to Mauritius and Julia Weinfeld. One of three children, she grew up in a Jewish but non-religious home.  

Under Hungarian occupation, her family experienced antisemitic discrimination and violence. Her father lost his business, her brother was imprisoned in a forced labor camp, and Renée was forced to leave school and join a segregated, Jewish-only athletic organization. In 1944, after a period of internment in the Užhorod ghetto, Renée and her family were deported to the Auschwitz camp complex. 

Upon arrival, Renée was separated from her parents, but managed to remain with her younger sister, Klara. Renée’s mother and sister were both murdered at Auschwitz. Renée was imprisoned for 13 months before she was sent on a forced death march to Liebau concentration camp in Germany. She was liberated in Liebau by the Soviet Army in May 1945, reunited with her brother in Prague, and found her father in Theresienstadt.  

Learn More:

Renée Firestone | Holocaust Survivor and Fashion Designer | USC Shoah Foundation

Holocaust Survivor Renée Firestone to Share Her Story | Gazette Archives

Renée Firestone Records Interview for New Dimensions in Testimony | USC Shoah Foundation