In 1940 when the Germans occupied the city, Chaya and her family went into the ghetto. Her little brother, aged four, was taken in an "aktion" (roundup for deportation). In 1944, they were deported to the Stutthof camp, where the men were separated from the women. WIthin a short while, Chaya and her mother were sent to the Malken camp, where they were put to work digging trenches under difficult conditions.

With the approach of the Soviet Red Army, Chaya and her mother were transported to the interior of Germany, and two months later arrived in a town near Gdansk (Danzig). There people lay sick with typhus and other illnesses. Chaya's mother fell ill, and Chaya herself was unconscious. They were liberated by the Red Army.

When they recovered, Chaya and her mother traveled to Lithuania. They returned to their home town, where they found the murderers but no one who would listen to them. When Chaya's father returned, they set out for Poland; en route they disguised themselves as Poles up until Katowice, and from there, as Greeks. At the end of a three month journey, during which they were also arrested, they reached the Feldafing DP camp in Germany.