Reb Yitzchak Beirach was on one of those trains. He was already quite elderly at the time — ninety years old — but healthy in both body and mind. He was with his wife, Ita Rochel, and his only daughter, Sosha Malka. They arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan, towards evening.
What transpired was later recounted by his daughter Sosha Malka Tobel:
We stood in long columns, and as the sun set and darkness set in, our terror increased. The cursed Nazi beast, Dr. Mengele, yemach shemo, stood there, flicking his cursed finger in each direction: this one to death, this one to life. My father Reb Yitzchak Beirach and my mother Ita Rochel were sent to the gas chambers. I was sent to a labor camp. That same night, Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5704, Reb Yitzchak Beirach and his wife were burned al kiddush Hashem, Hashem yinkom damam. It was very close to the yahrtzeit of the Ahavas Yisrael, which is on 2 Sivan.
That was when the dream of the Rebbe, the Ahavas Yisrael, became clear, as mentioned earlier.
Sosha Malka endured gehinnom in Auschwitz but survived, and eventually came to Eretz Yisrael, where she established a family. She passed away at a ripe old age in the year 2010.
