Irma Neumann

Arrested with her husband 22 July 1944 in Berlin. Transported to Auschwitz. However she survived.

https://www.testifyingtothetruth.co.uk/viewer/fulltext/105561/en/?f...

https://www.testifyingtothetruth.co.uk/viewer/metadata/105561/1/

    Eyewitness account by Irma Neumann of her experiences in Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and on a forced march 

Summary:

   Irma Neumann, a Jewess, was the wife of the non-Jewish stage director of the Berlin Opera, Karl August Neumann. In 1939, her sister was forced to work in factories; the physical effort was too much for her, so that she fell ill and died in 1943 (p.1-2).

In July 1944 the Neumanns were arrested for attempted high treason. Mr Neumann was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment by the People's Court for his alleged failure to denounce a Communist. Mrs Neumann was deported to Auschwitz, and, when the Russians approached, transferred to Ravensbrück. To escape liquidation, she volunteered for factory work, and was set to work in a factory at Leipzig, where conditions were rather better than in the camp (p.3-4).
When the Allied armies came near, about 10,000 women prisoners were marched through Saxony, half-starved and inadequately clad. At Riesa Mrs Neumann joined a group of 500 Russian prisoners. Exhausted by the cold and lack of food, she finally arrived at Oschatz on 26 April 1945, where she was liberated by American troops (p.6-7).
Her husband had survived and she met him again at Leipzig. They returned to Berlin; Mr. Neumann worked at the Opera and the Academy for Music until his death.