| Original caption: “Elly Gross, who was forced to work as slave labor for German automaker Volkswagen during World War II, holds a photograph of her younger brother Adalbert Berkovits at her home.” Holocaust survivor Elly Gross, née Berkovits, (February 14, 1929 – October 24, 2022) holds the only remaining photograph of Adalbert Berkovits (March 16, 1939 – circa June 2, 1944). She was born in Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania. When Hungarian troops occupied the town in 1940, her father, Eugen-Jakov Berkovits (December 12, 1905 – circa 1943) was taken to a labor camp and never seen again. Later she was told he was burned alive in his barracks. Elly, Adalbert and their mother Irina Rachel Berkovits (November 21, 1906 – circa June 2, 1944) were arrested and deported to Auschwitz in Spring 1944. Elly was sent to the right – and survival – and Irina and Adalbert to the left. Elly Berkovits, denied food for a week, passed out at the 1st roll call on June 4, 1944, but the Block leader allowed her to sneak back inside, avoiding the selektion. She tried to avoid bad food and water in Auschwitz-Birkenau to survive, sometimes going hungry to avoid dysentery. On September 3, 1944, Elly Berkovits was transferred to Konzentrationslager Fallersleben. This was a subcammp of the Konzentrationslager Neuengamme network. Fallersleben, a women’s camp, provided slave labor to Volkswagen. Her gums bled from the paint fumes; a Nazi German worker gave her salt, at pain of death, to put on her gums to stop the bleeding. She coughed up paint by December 1944. Fallersleben was liberated on April 14, 1945. Elly Berkovits returned to Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania and was given her family’s ransacked home. Neighbors had her family’s belongings, but refused to return them. She met her husband, Ernest “Erno” Gross (June 1, 1921 – August 15, 2011), also a Holocaust survivor, there. Realizing that Șimleu Silvaniei was no place for them, they moved to Oradea, Romania. They had 2 children and immigrated to the United States in 1966, where Elly Berkovits Gross graduated from LaGuardia Community College with an associate degree in Fine Arts in 1993. Elly Berkovits Gross returned to Asuchwitz in 1998. “I had my family reunion…on Friday, April 23, 1998 in Auschwitz,” she said at the time. “I promised that day, I would tell everybody. I promised them everything would be made right.” In 1998 Elly Berkovits Gross was the lead plaintiff in a watershed class-action lawsuit seeking restitution from Volkswagen for Holocaust survivors who had been forced into slave labor. She donated part of the small settlement she received to charities. Elly Berkovits Gross spoke out about the Holocaust for various organizations for 20 years, until her death. She was renowned as an eloquent speaker. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0794.jpg |
| Image Size | 90.89 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 714 x 1000 |
| Photographer | Adam Nadel |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 30, 1998 |
| Location | |
| City | New York |
| State or Province | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database