Valerie-Ann Langer was born on 30 November 1916 in Pilsen to the wealthy family of Maximillian Bergmann, her mother came from the famous Troller family. She married before the war, her husband, William Langer, had been a longtime friend of hers.
She was deported from Pilsen to the ghetto in Terezin, and survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and Hamburg-Geilenberg, Hamburg-Neugraben and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Miraculously, both she and her husband survived.
After returning to Pilsen, they happily met and decided to go as far as possible. They moved to Australia.
The interview was recorded on April 13, 1995 in Castlecrag, New South Wales, Australia.
Rita Münzerova, née Bejkovska, was born on 16 June 1927 in Pilsen, in the family of an important local merchant, Ervin Bejkovsky.
In 1940, her father was arrested by the Gestapo for his resistance activities, was imprisoned at Bory, in the Small Fortress in Terezin and, in 1942, he was murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp. In January 1942, Rita and her mother were deported to the Terezin ghetto, both of them lived to see the end of the war there. The remaining members of the extended family were murdered in extermination camps.
After returning to Pilsen, both women demanded the return of their family property for a long time and in a complicated way. Without success. Rita married a Pilsen Jew who fought in the British army and, after the communists came to power, they went to Israel together. Rita became a widow there, her only son died in consequence of his injuries in the Six Day War.
The interview was recorded on 4 July 1996 in Tel Aviv, Israel.