Yvonne Salamon was born in a place that I wish never existed.
Her mother, Helene, had lost weight and was weak weighing about 66 pounds before she gave birth.
Life at Bergen-Belsen was cold and hard. Helene gave birth in August after the Winter between 1944 and 1945. The temperature had hovered around zero degrees F. With prior experience as a mid-wife, Helene worked some of the time in the camp infirmary. Later, Helene would tell her daughter, Yvonne, that she met a very weak young girl named Anne Frank but Helene would never give her daughter any real details of where or how she was born.
Decades later another survivor of the camp, Francine Christophe, organized a conference on the topic of survivors and mental health. At one point a psychologist (Yvonne) stepped on to the stage and said she had something for Francine. She placed a piece of chocolate in Francine's hand and said, "I am the baby."
Francine and her mother had been holding on to two pieces of chocolate for Francine when she may weak and need energy. They gave the chocolate to Yvonne's mother while she was in labor.
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