Chella Kryszek - Auschwitz Survivor

A survivor of Auschwitz who spent 18 months in hiding in the Netherlands, Chella Velt Meekcoms Kryszek (born Rochella “Chella” Velt in the Hague) devoted over 25 years of her life reaching out to students in Oregon and around the US to share her story. Chella’s father was murdered at Auschwitz in the summer of 1944, and his daughters were selected for forced labor, assigned to a total of seven concentration camps. Before their arrival at Auschwitz, Chella’s family—assisted by members of the Dutch Underground—hid in a series of houses for a year and a half. In the speech excerpt that follows, Chella describes the family’s decision to go into hiding and how she experienced and coped with the confined conditions for 18 months. 

After the war Chella married and started a family. In 1953, she followed her sister Flora to Portland, Oregon. Chella was a force for Holocaust education and commemoration for over 25 years. She spoke to thousands of students in Oregon and southwest Washington as part of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center’s Speaker’s Board and also served, alongside her husband and fellow survivor Jakob Kryszek, as a member the Oregon Holocaust Memorial Coalition.

Holocaust Memorial Program | | Oregon State University