“Take the Girl” – The Shela Alteratz Story

Shela Alteratz (née Sion) was born in Štip, Macedonia, in 1934. In April 1941, Macedonia was conquered and annexed to Bulgaria. In March 1943, Shela and her family, along with the rest of the city's Jews, were deported to the "Monopol" factory in Skopje, where they were held in harsh conditions. Shortly after, Shela's sister Bella was allowed to leave the compound, as she was an Italian subject. Before leaving, their mother sent Shela with Bella, telling her, "Take the child." Shela's family was then taken to the Treblinka extermination camp. Shela began a journey of wandering and hiding across Kosovo, during which she lived under a false identity. In the spring of 1944, Shela was arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp for political prisoners. After the liberation, she moved to Prishtina, then was sent to an orphanage in Belgrade. In July 1949, Shela immigrated to Israel and, with her friends, joined a troupe of the Yugoslav youth movement on Kibbutz Ein Dor, where she met her future husband, Avraham Alteratz. In 1951, she joined the army. After her release, she began working as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem. Shela and Avraham have three children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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