Born by Miracle: The Three Babies Who Survived Auschwitz Return to the Death Camp

When the notorious Dr. Mengele asked Priska Löwenbeinova, a Jewish teacher from Slovakia, if she was pregnant, Priska quickly answered no. In fact, she was two months pregnant, but even though she was unaware of Mengele's cruel experiments on pregnant women, her survival instinct told her to hide her condition. Thus, she joined the forced labor ranks at Auschwitz while bearing a child—and she was not alone. Two other women also underwent medical checks by Mengele and replied no when asked if they were pregnant. Like Priska, they chose to lie. These two were Rachel Friedman, from the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, and Anka Nathanova from Prague. All three were declared fit to work producing parts for the German Luftwaffe. These three women never met amidst the chaos of Auschwitz and hid their pregnancies as much as possible. Under malnourished conditions, it wasn't difficult. They worked grueling seven-day weeks, hoping for a miracle.

A new book being published next month, titled Born Survivors ('Born Survivors'), documents the miracles that occurred to these three women. They were taken on the 'death march' deep into Germany—but survived. Towards the end of their pregnancies, the German guards knew of their conditions—but with the Allies already bombing Dresden and Germany's surrender imminent, they dared not harm them. When Priska went into labor, the SS women agreed among themselves that if she gave birth to a boy, the war would continue, but if a girl, the end was near. Priska gave birth to a daughter, and in a macabre scene, the Germans celebrated: 'It's a girl! Peace is near!'. On April 14th, however, two days after the birth, the command arrived to transfer the relatively healthy women by train to Mauthausen camp. Priska and her tiny daughter, Hana, were on the train—along with Rachel and Anka, who were both due to give birth in the coming days.

Three babies born at the end of World War II to mothers who survived Auschwitz

The three new mothers and their tiny babies—each weighing barely 1.5 kg—endured hunger, disease, and infections until May 5, 1945, when the 11th Armored Division of the U.S. Army entered Mauthausen camp. Priska, a language teacher who knew English, quickly called for help. Medical personnel rushed to aid the dehydrated and starved mother and daughter. They treated the babies' festering wounds and even injected a new drug—penicillin. Rachel and her son, Mark, and Anka and her daughter, Eva, also received devoted care and began recovering.

None of the three mothers' husbands survived the war. Priska returned to Bratislava, where she became a professor of languages and never remarried. She passed away in 2006 at the age of 90. Her daughter immigrated to Israel after the 'Prague Spring' in 1968 and later moved to California. Rachel remarried, moved to Israel, and later immigrated with her son and new husband to America. She passed away in 2003 at the age of 84. Anka returned to Prague, remarried, and moved to Britain. She died in 2013 at the age of 96. None of them had any more children.

The babies who miraculously survived met for the first time five years ago at a camp survivors' event. Only Anka was still alive then and learned that she wasn't the only pregnant mother to survive Auschwitz with her baby, and she met the other two 'babies'.

Today, all three of Mengele's escaped infant survivors have grandchildren. They have grown close since discovering their mothers' similar journeys, and next month, all three plan to meet in Auschwitz—at an event marking seventy years since the camp's liberation and their own private miracle.