Stern was born on 13 December 1930 in Svalyava, Czechoslovakia.
Stern was a member of a group of Holocaust survivors known as the Boys, despite the fact the group consisted of over 200 girls.
The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after World War II for rest and rehabilitation.
Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.
The Stern family before World War II.
She lived in Mukačevo a town in the Carpathian Mountains in the most easterly corner of Czechoslovakia, with her parents and five brothers and sisters.
In 1939 Mukačevo was incorporated into Hungary and known by its Hungarian name of Munkács. In March 1944 Germany invaded Hungary and the Stern family were imprisoned in the Munkács Ghetto.
Deportation
In 1944, Stern and her family were deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp, where her father died.
Stern’s location during the rest of the war is unknown, however it is possible that she remained in Auschwitz-Birkenau until its liberation in 1945.
Liberation
After the war, Stern went to Prague where she was reunited with her brother Meir. The siblings chose to move to the UK for a safer life, despite the fact that their mother survived the war.
Eliska Stern’s Journey 1944-1948
Pre-war Life: Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia. Forced Journey: → Munkács Ghetto → Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. After liberation: → Prague, Czechoslovakia → Joins 4th Group of the Boys → London, UK.
A New Life
Stern travelled to the UK in June 1946 with Meir in the fourth group of the Boys. They stayed in the Jewish Shelter which was run by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in the East End of London. Her cousin Tamas Stern was also living in the Jewish Centre and later emigrated to Chile to live with their uncle.
Stern settled in the USA and died in 2019.
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