We are starting a new series devoted to Holocaust survivors, witnesses of history, who have become the depositories of memory. The series contains personal stories of people who experienced hatred, intolerance and violence. Through their testimonies, we keep alive the memory of people and a bygone world that was doomed. Witness accounts are a very important part of remembrance and education and a warning against the consequences of war and racism

Amelia (Mila) Sandberg-Mesner was born on 22 November 1923 in Zaleszczyki on the Dniester River, in a town on the Polish-Romanian border. She was the third child of Fanny and Zygmunt Sandberg. Her eldest sister Róża (Ziuta) was the first to be born in 1908 and Lola in 1919. In 1928 Róża married a talented doctor David Wasserman, and after the wedding, she moved to Kolomyja. In 1932 she gave birth to a daughter, who was called Anusia. In 1935, after the death of Mila's mother's brother and his wife, her parents adopted their daughter Jasia. A few months after the war broke out, Mila and her family moved to Kolomyja. In February 1942, Fanny and Zygmunt Sandberg and their younger daughters Lola, Mila, and their cousin Jasia, were locked up in the local ghetto. Albin Thiel, a friend of the family, often visited them and brought them food and necessary things to survive. During the liquidation of the ghetto in October 1942, the Sandberg family, together with other Jews, were brutally pushed into cattle wagons going to the Bełżec death camp. Knowing that they were going to die, some of the imprisoned people decided to jump out of the train. Lola, Mili, and Jasia managed to escape. Mila's parents did not decide to jump off the train. They perished in the German death camp in Bełżec. The girls' risky act was successful and Albin, with the help of the priest, Father Ludwik Peciak, prepared false baptismal records for them. Since then, Lola was officially his wife, Maria Kazanowska-Thiel, Mila was his wife's cousin Stanisława Schmiedel, and Jasia was his maid Aniela Wojciechowska. Initially, they lived in Lviv. Later they moved to the German colony Ernsdorf near Bóbrka. In 1945 Thiel and part of the Sandberg family entered Romania. There, they each went their separate ways. Jasia Elberger lived in Israel, and Lola, Mila, and their eldest sister Róża (Ziuta) with their family in Canada. Albin Thiel fell in love with a wealthy Romanian physician with whom he subsequently emigrated to Argentina. Mila lost contact with Albin. Currently, Amalia Sandberg-Mesner is 97 years old and lives with her husband Izio in Montreal. More about Mila's story you can read in the presentation below.