Jerusalem, 2016
So they called me Varda. That’s my name now.
After they collected all the Jews in the camp, in the train station of Baron Hirsch in Saloniki, a few days after we were all collected, I was born, on the first of August, in Baron Hirsch and there was a doctor who was still there, and he gave birth to me.
The day after…. The day after, my mother was in bed, she was dressed and all that, she was in bed and then four Germans came and took her with the bed, they didn’t want her to get up and took her with the bed to the train and they helped. Ι’ve got a big brother [Moshe Hassid]and my father, he had suitcases and all bundle of things, and they helped him also to take all the things to the train and they were also on the way to Bergen-Belsen and in Bergen-Belsen they treated my mother very nice. They gave her some porridge so she can feed me and afterwards you know, we were six months in Bergen-Belsen and then, I think , all the story you know from all the people which are older than me, so they know it exactly, they know it better.
My part was how I was born. When I was born, so all the people in the camp said to my mother “nacio una barona” [a baroness was born in ladino]. So my name was Barona. And when the Germans came and we came to Bergen-Belsen and they asked my mother “what’s her name”? She told them “Barona”. So they said “Barona is not a name, we’ll give her a name and she will be called Veronica”. So my mother said “Ok, she’ll be called Veronica”. And then after, you know, we talk about a year, a year and a half, after we came to Israel, my mother wanted to put me in a kindergarten or so, so they asked her “what’s her name”? So, she said “Veronica”. They said “Veronica is a Christian name. She can’t, she is not gonna be called Veronica, we will call her Varda”. So they called me Varda. That’s my name now.