About Erno

Just 29 years old when he was deported from his hometown in Hungary to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Erno Spiegel was spared from death in the gas chambers for one reason – he was a twin. Dr. Josef Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death,” selected twins for his perverse pseudo-scientific experiments and screened every new arrival. When Erno identified himself and his sister as twins, Mengele assigned him to oversee a dormitory of nearly 60 twin boys. There, Erno was forced to translate for the Nazis and document the details of the experimental procedures.

But he became far more than a record keeper. Erno became the boys’ guardian – protecting them, creating a sense of community, and insisting they call each other by their names rather than the numbers tattooed on their arms. He quietly altered some boys’ birthdates to make siblings appear to be twins, saving their lives. On at least one occasion, he intervened directly to pull the boys back from certain death in the gas chambers.

After liberation, while the war still raged, the boys begged Erno not to leave them behind. So he didn't. Erno led them out of Auschwitz on foot, braving a brutal winter and the chaos of wartime Europe to bring them home to Hungary.

Despite these extraordinary acts of courage, Erno never spoke about what he had done – not even to his own family. Only four decades later, as he neared the end of his life, did he begin to share his story and then was publicly recognized as a hero.

Erno often said that you can take everything from a person – except what they have learned. Those words became a guiding principle for his daughter, Dr. Judith Richter, and continue to shape the family’s legacy of impact in education, health, and social responsibility.