Elisabeth Guttenberger (née Schneck; 6 February 1926 – 25 March 2024) was a German Holocaust survivor and human rights activist.
[1] Of Sinti origin, she survived the Romani Holocaust and testified at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials after having been interned at the Gypsy family camp.
[4] Once Adolf Hitler took power, her family found it difficult to find economic opportunities due to the strict racial criteria.
[2] She was unable to attend secondary school and was forced to abandon her apprenticeship in confectionery due to intervention from the Gestapo and was instead conscripted into working at a munitions factory.
[6] On 16 December 1942, the Nazi regime decreed that all Romani still living within German territory must be deported to Auschwitz with the goal of complete extermination.