The Last Group
In January 1941, the group, which included fourteen-year-old Sonja, became the very last circle of Aliyat Hanoar to leave Berlin. It was a group of sixteen girls, many of whom had to leave younger siblings behind because they were too young to join. They faced a devastating parting from their mothers at the train station—a parting that, for most, was forever.
Sonja recalls the devastating separation from her mother, who took her to the train station to say a final farewell. Even more painful was the goodbye to her brother Martin; she went to say goodbye to him in the Orphan House, where he was left behind with other Jewish children who had lost their parents. Sonja later recalled:
“The whole train ride was a mixture of terror, devastation, and hopelessness. I was among mostly older girls who I barely knew. We were all in a state of shock.”
Tila Nagler-Offenberger, the eldest of the group—then 16 years old—recalled the harrowing journey in her memoirs:
“I was one of the sixteen girls, the last group that managed to leave Berlin… thanks to Recha Freier. The youngest was ten. The parting from the mothers was, for most of us, a parting forever.
We reached the Yugoslav border in January. It was freezing, with snow thick in the mountains… The smugglers laid us on the bottom of the wagon—layers upon layers, one on top of the other—and a wide covering concealed all the ‘cargo.’ Suddenly, shouts were heard in Yugoslavian. The smugglers abandoned us and fled. The border police demanded entry permits and led us with loud shouts to the station in Maribor.”
It was here that Yosef Indig (Yoshko) appeared, offering the words that would sustain them: “Do not worry!”
Sonja's Story 