Babies Born at Auschwitz: Survival Against All Odds

At Auschwitz, pregnancy was a death sentence. Most visibly pregnant women were sent directly to gas chambers. Those who concealed their condition faced brutal conditions: filthy maternity wards, starvation, and infanticide by camp staff. Dr. Gisella Perl, a Jewish gynecologist forced to assist Josef Mengele, performed secret abortions to save mothers from execution. She later delivered a baby at Bergen Belsen as British troops arrived. Stanisława Leszczyńska, a Polish Catholic midwife, delivered approximately 3,000 babies in Auschwitz-Birkenau, defying orders to let newborns die; only 30 survived. She baptized each infant and used makeshift supplies. Survivors include Barbara Puc (born 1944, nursed by another prisoner), Angela Orosz (a Jewish baby whose faint cries avoided detection), and Miriam Rosenthal (gave birth in a labor camp). After the war, many mothers were left infertile or had children taken by the Lebensborn program. Leszczyńska tattooed some babies to enable later reunions.