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Katherine (Kitty) Williams

The second youngest of eight children, Katherine (Kitty) Ehrenfeld was born in 1924 in Sáránd, Hungary. Kitty lost her mother as a young child, but her father did not remarry. Among the few Jewish families in the vicinity, they were only able to stave off antisemitic sentiment for so long. Kitty hid under the bed of her neighbor prior to confinement in the Sáránd and Nagyvárad ghettos. As was the fate of most Hungarian Jews in 1944, she was transported to Auschwitz with her father, who was immediately murdered. Four months later, Kitty was moved to Allendorf concentration camp, where she was forced to work with toxic chemicals and chisel powder out of undetonated bombs until her liberation on April 1, 1945. Six of her siblings survived the war. Kitty married a United States serviceman and emigrated to Council Bluffs, lowa, in 1947. She raised three children and worked for US Bank, where she became a Vice President. "The U.S. not only liberated me from the camps but gave me and other survivors the opportunity for a new life. We worked hard not to be a burden in this country, and we left Europe with nothing." Hear Kitty's testimony in her own words.


26 items

List of One Thousand Women Taken from Auschwitz to Allendorf, August 13, 1944

  • Date: August 13, 1944
  • Creator(s): Fahidi, Éva | Szapor, Judith
  • Format: book

Kitty Williams, Zu Liste F

  • Date: November 8, 1947
  • Format: document
  • Source: D7551554/ITS Digital Archive

Hessiche Landeskriminalpolizei Krim.-Inspektion

  • Date: September 22, 1951
  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821748-89821749/ITSDigital Archive

Kitty Williams's Certificate of Incarceration and Residence

  • Date: July 17, 1962
  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821757, ITS Digital Archive

United Restitution Organization Document

  • Date: September 10, 1969
  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821755-89821756/ITS Digital Archive

Der Regierungspräsident in Darmstadt

  • Date: August 25, 1969
  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821750/ITS Digital Archive

An den Regierüngspräsidenten in Darmstadt

  • Date: September 10, 1969
  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821754/ITSDigital Archive

Kitty Williams Shoah Foundation Testimony

  • Date: June 19, 1996
  • Format: testimony
  • Source: USC Shoah Foundation

Kitty Williams finally tells her Holocaust survivor tale

  • Date: May 4, 2010
  • Creator(s): Biga, Leo Adam
  • Format: digitalpub

Presentation by Kitty Williams, Holocaust Survivor

  • Date: April 30, 2019
  • Format: testimony
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

Council Bluffs woman, 98, worked to educate others about Holocaust

  • Date: October 5, 2022
  • Format: newspaper

Kitty Williams: a true woman of valor

  • Date: October 18, 2022
  • Creator(s): Littky, Scott
  • Format: newspaper

Kitty Williams's Buchenwald Record

  • Format: document
  • Source: E20166351/ITS Digital Archive; F20166344/ITS Digital Archive

ITS Individual Document

  • Format: document
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

Kitty Williams's labor assignment card

  • Format: document
  • Source: D7551553/ITS Digital Archive

Kitty Williams's Number Card for sub-camp of Buchenwald

  • Format: document
  • Source: D7551552/ITS Digital Archive

ITS Intake Document

  • Format: document
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

Kitty Williams's Record

  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821743-89821744/ITS Digital Archive

ITS Individual Document

  • Format: document
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

ITS Intake Document

  • Format: document
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

Buchenwald Registry Card for Kitty Williams

  • Format: document
  • Source: D7551554/ITS Digital Archive

Kitty Williams's Buchenwald Record

  • Format: document
  • Source: ITS Digital Archive

Kitty Williams's Auschwitz Record

  • Format: document
  • Source: 89821746, ITS Digital Archive

Displaced Person Registration Record (Kitty Williams)

  • Format: document
  • Source: G69780827/ITS Digital Archive; H66997401/ITS Digital Archive

ITS Individual Document

  • Format: document
  • Source: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress

Katherine "Kitty" Williams Obituary

  • Format: digitalpub
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