Hanna Stern Weinberger was born in Neisse, Germany, in 1924. She was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, where she endured forced labor in a German munitions plant. While shackled to two other female prisoners during a forced march to another camp, she and the other women managed to escape. After the war ended, she lived in a Displaced Persons camp for several years, and then immigrated to the U.S. Seeking a profession that did not require an American high school diploma, Weinberger became a registered physical therapist and masseuse. From 1948 to 1951, she worked at the Jewish Hospital for Joint Diseases. In the 1950s, shortly after Vishniac took this photograph, Weinberger had the tattoo from Auschwitz removed. Weinberger was recently identified through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Survivors Registry, where she had submitted a prewar photograph and information about her family history.