Born into the hell of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just weeks before its liberation, Ilana Kantorowicz Shalem, now 81, is among the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. Her very existence is a testament to extraordinary timing and her mother's desperate resilience.
During the final months of World War II, her mother, Lola Kantorowicz, successfully hid her pregnancy. This was tragically possible because most Bergen-Belsen prisoners had bellies distended and bloated from extended starvation, masking Lola's condition.
