Thread by @RudiGeerts

Ginette Kolinka (born February 4, 1925)

Survivor and witness of Auschwitz and Theresienstadt
1/n
Ginette Kolinka was born on February 4, 1925 in Paris into a non-practicing family of Jewish origin. She lived her early childhood in the 4th arrondissement then in Aubervilliers.

2/n She was the sixth in a family of seven children and had a very sheltered childhood. Her father, Léon, had a clothing workshop. In 1942 the whole family moved to Avignon. They all work in the markets.

3/n On March 13, 1944, the Gestapo and the Militia came to arrest the men of the family, her father, her 12-year-old brother and her 14-year-old nephew on denunciation. Faced with Ginette's remarks, they took her on board too.

1945, Ginette with her scarf: “I have shaved hair”

4/n They were interned in the Drancy camp. On April 13, 1944, they were deported by convoy 71 in cattle cars from Bobigny station to Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
Her father and brother joined the trucks and were gassed on arrival.

5/n Ginette entered the women's camp, was tattooed with registration number 78 599. In April 1945, faced with the approach of the Allied armies, she was transferred for 8 days, by a death train to the Theresienstadt camp. Ginette had typhus.

6/n On her return in June 1945, she found her mother and 4 sisters. Ginette tried to reume her life for two years and did not tell anyone about her deportation. Ginette married in 1951, has a son, Richard Kolinka, who became the drummer of the musical band Telephone.

7/7 She resumed her work in the markets. Today, she frequently testifies to young people.
She accompanied many trips to Auschwitz and published 'Return to Birkenau' in 2019.