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Dr Gisella Perl ⁺ The Angel of Auschwitz

Introduction

Dr Gisella Perl (10th December 1907-16th December 1988) was a Hungarian-Jewish gynaecologist whose courage and compassion undoubtedly saved thousands of lives during her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Although Dr Perl’s life involves witnessing some of the most depraved events in European history, understanding her life and challenges offers not only an important reminder of the brutality that the Jewish and other persecuted groups faced under the Nazi regime but also an inspirational insight into human willpower.

Early Life

Growing up in Máramorossziget, Hungary, Dr Perl was not just the only woman and only Jew to graduate but also finished at the top of her class. Despite her father’s worries that her pursuit of medicine would lead her to abandon her faith, she promised him that she wouldn't and, eventually, he permitted her to go. With her first paycheck, Dr Perl bought her father a prayer book, engraved with his name and assures him that she will always remain a Jew. 

Time in Auschwitz

After being captured and torn away from her parents, husband, and young son in 1944, Dr Perl was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In her memoir, I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz, Dr Perl recalls that ‘(little children) were taken away, crying and screaming, with wild terror in their eyes, to be undressed, thrown into the waiting graves, drenched with some inflammable material and burned alive.’ 

After being assigned to work under Dr Josef Mengele, the infamous ‘Angel of Death,’, Dr Perl, despite a complete lack of equipment or drugs, dedicated herself to alleviating the suffering of anyone she could. After seeing the depraved surgeries and experiments that Dr Mengele would perform on pregnant women and their newborns, such as intentionally starving babies, castrating them, exposing them to disease, and then executing them, Dr Perl made the decision to secretly perform abortions, often with her bare hands, to save countless women from near-certain death.

 ‘I remembered all the pregnant women in camp whose life depended on my skill, courage and readiness to help . . . and suddenly I knew why I had been spared. I was responsible for those women ... I had to remain alive so as to save them from death . . . I was their doctor’ 

Despite the huge personal risk, Dr. Perl performed an estimated 3,000 abortions in less than 8 months. This course of action was hard for Perl, and the ethical dilemma she had been faced with followed her throughout her life.

Shortly after being moved to Bergen-Belsen, she discovered the bodies of both her sister and brother. 2 months later the camp was liberated by the British and Dr Perl delivered the first free child in any of the camps.

Post-War

After the devastating news that her parents, siblings, and husband had all been slaughtered by the Nazis, Dr Perl attempted suicide. After being cared for in a covenant Dr. Perl moved to the United States of America where she continued her compassionate care and expertise in women’s health and published her memoir, ‘I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz’ (1948)

In 1979 both Dr Perl and her daughter, Gabriella Krauss, who she’d since reunited with after hiding her during the war, moved to Israel, where she stayed until her death on the 16th of December 1988, aged 81.

Reportedly, before every birth, she would say the same prayer,

‘God, you owe me a life - a living baby.’

Further resources:

#learningfromAuschwitz #GisellaPerl #LearningfromtheHolocaust #Holocaustremembrance #lestweforget