Holocaust Education Conference program, 1997

A Journal of Memories 1997 Holocaust Education Conference A Day in the Life of . . . February 5 & 6 , 1997 Sands Expo &? Convention Center This Journal of Memories conceptualized, created, and edited by Karla J. McComb WELCOME TO THE Z^Eva h/ JiL 1997 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CONFERENCE A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... Sponsored by Clark County School District Compensatory Education Division Project MCE Jewish Federation of Las Vegas Governor's Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust Nate Mack B'nai B'rith Sands Expo and Convention Center February 5 & 6, 1997 J J TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TOPIC 1 Letter to Participants 2 Holocaust Education in Nevada 3 Overview of Conference 4 Schedule 5 Conference Committee 6 Presenters 7 Workshop Facilitators & Special Thanks 9 The Story Unfolds - Biographies of Presenters 11 Meta Doran 1 3 Samuel & Simon Greenberg 1 4 Karl O. Herz 17 Tibor Kertesz 19 Ernest Ostreicher 21 Blanca Rosenberg 24 Henry Rosmarin 27 Sasha Semenoff 31 Leah Sichel 34 Janos Strauss 3 8 David Berkovits Harold Blitzer 3 9 Renee Firestone 4 0 SigyHart 4 1 Al Judovits Jerry Julius 4 2 Edith Klar 4 3 Gina Klonoff 4 4 Henry Schuster 4 5 Appendix - The Nuremburg Laws Dear Conference Participants: In the fall of 1996 as the early planning for the conference began, our Executive Committee and guests (Edythe Katz-Yarchever, Karla McComb, Rabbi Sandy Akselrad, Roz Sbarra, Beth Weinberger, Lynn Rudolph, and myself) began to plan the conference for 1997.. We wanted to give both students and teachers a chance to meet the survivors of our community in a personal and informal setting, giving rise to the 1997 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CONFERENCE: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF . . . We wanted the participants to learn about life in the cities and towns of Eastern Europe, to try to understand that these children and adults led productive lives filled with family, celebration of holidays, sports, school activities, and all things that people experience in vibrant communities around the world in the 20th century. We wanted the participants to learn about the experiences of people during the Holocaust; how it was to be a child hidden in an orphanage, to be in the midst of Kristallnacht as a child in Germany, to be in Auschwitz as a young teenage boy, to live in a Ghetto after being taken from your comfortable home, or being sent to Denmark as a young boy and completely separated from your family. We wanted everyone who attends to learn about the ramifications of being taken away from familiar surroundings, family, friends, home, belongings, school, jobs, and thrown into a world so foreign that even fifty-two years after the end of WWII, the Holocaust still emotes more and more questions as opposed to any answers. Most of all we realized that in less than four years, the Holocaust of WWII will be part of the LAST CENTURY. The Holocaust was both universal and unique. It is the heartfelt hope of the conference planners that, after today's experience, you will more fully appreciate the value of the differences among people and the danger of not accepting and embracing these differences. Myra Slotnick, Conference Co-chairperson 1 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION IN NEVADA For nearly twenty years a close cooperation has existed between the Clark County School District and the community in the area of human rights and Holocaust education. In the 1970s few references were readily available and little mention in text books or in curriculum documents was made of this cataclysmic event in history. Many social studies teachers experienced great frustration as they sought sources of material to teach this aspect of the 20th century. In 1978 a committee of concerned community members led by Mrs. Edythe Katz approached the Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Dr. Agustin Orci, about providing materials to school libraries on the topic of the Holocaust. This was the start of an exciting collaboration which continues today. In the beginning interest was largely centered among members of the Jewish community, many of whom had a very personal interest in ensuring that the message of the Holocaust not be forgotten. It quickly became clear that the end of discrimination and prejudice through Holocaust education was the goal of many caring people. Groups of school district and community representatives visited other communities to see what was being done in ihe area and then organized the Holocaust Education Committee which confines today. In the early 1980s Karla McComb, then social studies curriculum specialist, joined with Mrs. Katz and others to organize the first local Holocaust Education Conference for Teachers. At that time more than 300 teachers from Clark County and the rest of the state heard survivors describe what they experienced and educators discuss how such messages could be best offered to students. This very emotional experience created a clamor among teachers for teaching tools and educational experiences for students in this sensitive area. Soon after that, Holocaust education was included as a required part of social studies instruction in the curricula of both Clark County and then the state of Nevada and local educators, led by Mrs. Phyllis Darling, developed the Nevada Holocaust Curriculum, a document which is in use internationally including in several schools in Germany. A number of student/teacher conferences were organized in Las Vegas and Governor Bob Miller developed and funded the Governor's Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust. This organization composed of dedicated individuals from many faiths and backgrounds has supported and continues to support expanded Holocaust education efforts throughout the state. Beginning in 1994, under the sponsorship of the Clark County School District; the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas; the Governor's Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust; Nate Mack B'nai B'rith; and the Nevada Humanities Committee, a series of in-depth student/teacher educational experiences have been offered each year. This year's 10th annual conference, really two complete conferences on successive days, is offered by the Holocaust Education Conference Committee to public and private school teachers and students as part of the on-going Holocaust education program which has made Nevada a leader among states of the U.S. Karla J. McComb 2 1 9 9 7 H O L O C A U S T E D U C A T I O N C O N F E R E N C E : A D A Y I N T H E L I F E OF . . . Sands Expo & Convention Center 201 E. Sands Avenue Wednesday, Feb. 5,1997 & Thursday, Feb. 6,1997 General Description This year's conference focuses entirely on the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe from a very personal point of view. Students and teachers, grades 5 - 1 2 , will be introduced to the lives of a number of individuals affected by the Holocaust, some who survived and some who perished. Workshops will deal with their lives and the lives of others before and during the Holocaust. At the closing session, participants will actually meet and talk with their survivors or relatives of those who did not survive. CONFERENCE SCHEDULE TIME TOPIC 3:00 - 3:30 pm Registration, refreshments 3:30 - 4:15 pm Workshops: Life Before the Holocaust 4:20 - 5:05 pm Workshops: Life During the Holocaust 5 : 1 0 - 6 : 1 0 pm Dinner ? Remarks ? Introductions of guests 6:15 - 7:00 pm General Session ? Reading of 10 biographies ? Large screen display of photos ? Distribution of Journal of Memories 7:05 - 8:00 pm Personal Discussions ? Participants meet with their survivor or relative of non-survivor 1997 Holocaust Education Conference " A D A Y I N T H E L I F E O F . . . " ' 3:00 - 3:30 pm Registration & Refreshments Pick up materials & name badges 101/102/201/202 1997 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CONFERENCE: "A Day in the Life of..." SCHEDULE & ROOM ASSIGNMENTS 3:30-4:15 pm Life Before the Holocaust Go to the r o om of the person named on your badge 1 0 3 -MetaDoran Samuel & Simon Greenberg Presenter Sigi Hart Facilitator: Sheri Cohen 2 0 3 -KarlHerz Tibor Kertesz Presenter Renee Firestone Facilitator Eileen Kollins 1 0 4 - Ernest Ostreicher Blanca Rosenberg Presenter A1 Judovits Facilitator Gayla Miyama 2 0 4 - Henry Rosmarin Sasha Semenoff Presenter Harold Blitzer Facilitator Vern Mattson 2 0 5 - Leah Sichel Janos Strauss Presenter Gina Klonoff Facilitator Pat Holland 4:20 - 5:05 pm Life During the Holocaust Go to the r o om of the person named on your badge 1 0 3 - Mela Doran Samuel & Simon Greenberg Presenter Jerry Julius Facilitator: Ira Goldberg 2 0 3 -KarlHerz Tibor Kertesz Presenter Edith Klar Facilitator Sandee Fleekop 1 0 4 - Ernest Ostreicher Blanca Rosenberg Presenter Harold Blitzer Facilitator Vem Mattson 2 0 4 ? Henry Rosmarin Sasha Semenoff Presenter David Berkovits Facilitator Pat Holland 2 0 5 ? Leah Sichel Janos Strauss Presenter Henry Schuster Facilitator David Pearce 5:10-6:10 pm Dinner 106/107/206/207 6:15-7:00 pm General Session Reading of Honoree Biographies 106/107/206/207 Presenters: Rikki Cheese Fred Lewis Kathryn Pritchard Nate Tannenbaum 7:05 - 8:00 pm Meet the Honorees Go t o the r o om of the person named on your badge 101 - Meta Doran Facilitator Gayla Miyama 102 - Samuel & Simon Greenberg Presenter Gene Greenberg Facilitator Pat Holland 201 - Karl Hera Facilitator David Pearce 202 - Tibor Kertesz Facilitator: Kathleen Bagley 103 - Ernest Ostreicher Facilitator Sheri Cohen 104 - Blanca Rosenberg Facilitator Ira Goldberg 203 - Henry Rosmarin Facilitator: Eileen Kollins 204 - Sasha Semenoff Facilitator: Herb Thompson / Faye Shepaid 105 - Leah Sichel Facilitator: Sandee Fleekop 205 - Janos Strauss Facilitator Lyn Zepeda / Nancy Schneider CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Edythe Katz Yarchever - General Chair Myra Slotnick - Co-chair Karla McComb - Co-chair Rabbi Sanford Akselrad Wendell Gray Vern Mattson Joanne Meyer Almquist Gene Greenberg Debbie McKinnon Marsha Anderson Isabel Goldberg Gayla Miyama Karen Avalos Paul Goldensohn Dee Ober Elise Ax Pat Holland Barbara Rosenberg Janet Belcove-Shalin Lynette Jensen Lynn Rudolph Harold Blitzer Jerry Julius Roz Sbarra Lori Lipman Brown Shelly Katz Anita Schuster Diane Carpenter Eileen Kollins Henry Schuster Phyllis Darling Shirley Kravitz Sasha Semenoff Lulu Diggs Henry Kronberg Kati Smith Sara Duncan Lillian Kronberg Gary Waters Ronni Epstein Michael Lamont Beth Weinberger Jackie Fleekop Mark Lange Arlene Weisner Judy Mack Linda Maroney Susan Wright Gil Yarchever 5 CONFERENCE PRESENTERS The Conference Committee wishes to thank the biography honorees, who represent the millions of people who suffered during the Holocaust, and the presenter honorees, many of whom also experienced the horror personally, for their willingness to share their life stories and/or expertise about the events of this devastating period of history. BIOGRAPHY HONOREES Meta Doran Gene Greenberg in memory of Samuel & Simon Greenberg Karl Herz Tibor Kertesz Ernest Ostreicher Dr. Blanca Rosenberg Henry Rosmarin Sasha Semenoff Leah Sichel Janos Strauss PRESENTER HONOREES David Berkovits Harold Blitzer Renee Firestone Sigy Hart Al Judovits Jerry Julius Edith Klar Gina Klonoff Henry Schuster 6 WORKSHOP FACILITATORS Kathleen Bagley Sheri Cohen Sandee Fleekop Ira Goldberg Pat Holland Eileen Kollins Gayla Miyama David Pearce Nancy Schneider Faye Shepard Herb Thompson Lynn Zepeda SPECIAL THANKS TO: Elise Ax Jackie Fleekop Paul Goldensohn Judy & Ron Mack Dee Ober Century Advertising & Productions - Mike Levy Gifts for Music Lovers - Susan Russell Picture This - Isabel Goldberg & Jackie Boiman Sands Expo & Convention Center 7 Notes 8 T H E M E M O R I E S U N F O L D Biographies of the Honorees META DORAN (HANNI META KEMPINSKI) Meta Doran was born Hanni Meta Kempinski in Hamburg, Germany on February 1, 1926, the only child of Chil and Paula Kempinski, who were Polish. Meta grew up in a prosperous home and was educated in private Jewish schools. In 1938 she and her parents were deported back to Poland with only the clothes they were wearing on their backs. Left behind were the elements of her quiet childhood, leaving her with only memories. In 1939 Germany invaded and occupied Poland. The family was sent to ghettos in Pabjanice and Lodz. It was in the Lodz ghetto where tragedy struck close to her as her father died of starvation. She and her mother clung to their lives for five years, finding food, surviving somehow despite the rigors of ghetto life. Finally, even this precarious existence ended in 1944 when the Lodz ghetto was destroyed and all residents either killed or sent to concentration camps. The path led first to Auschwitz. It was in Auschwitz where Meta's mother was killed. The young Meta then was sent to Bergen-Belsen, and finally to Salzwedel from which she was liberated by the American forces on April 14, 1945. Preferring to tell about her later life, Meta describes marrying her first husband in December 1945. They went to Brussels, Belgium to live where her two older children were born. In December 1949 the family came to the United States, living for a short time in Boston. Not liking the cold weather, they then moved to Houston, Texas, where they spent five 11 years, finally settling in Las Vegas in 1954. Her youngest son was born in Las Vegas in 1958. Meta worked in various jobs in this community, in retail sales, at the Sands Hotel, in real estate, and retired as the manager of a travel agency in 1988. Meta and her first husband were divorced in the early 60s and she met her present husband Gerald through her children. They were married in 1971. She is very proud of her children who are all well educated. Her older son is an internationally recognized dentist who now lives in Marin County, California. Her granddaughter will follow her father into dentistry when she graduates from college. The older grandson is a music major at North Texas State University and the younger grandson, now just eight, attends Brandeis-Hillel School where he reads, writes, and speaks beautiful Hebrew. She lost her daughter to cancer in 1984. The daughter was working in New York as director of ABC-TV's cable network at the time of her death. Her younger son lives in Las Vegas with his wife where he is a superintendent for a large construction firm. 12 SAMUEL & SIMON GREENBERG Samuel and Simon Greenberg were born Shmuel and Shimik Grynberg in Lodz, Poland, in 1934 and 1936 respectively. Their parents were Abraham and Helen Grynberg. Their father Abraham was a tailor in Lodz. The childhood of the two was very typical of Jewish children in the Poland of the 1930s. The boys attended elementary school with the expectation of becoming apprentices to their father in his tailor shop at the age of 13. Life changed in a way that stopped all hopes and plans. In 1940 they and their parents were forced to live in the Lodz ghetto with all of its hardships and difficulties. For four very long years the boys managed to survive ghetto life; however, in June of 1944, they were transported to Auschwitz. Shmuel and Shimik died in the gas chambers at Birkenau on or about June 14, 1944. They were, at the time of their death, ten and twelve years old. 13 KARLO. HERZ Karl Herz was born near Cologne, Germany, in 1928. His parents were of the Jewish faith. By the time Karl was ready to enter school, in 1933, he and those around him had begun to feel the discrimination and persecution created by newly passed German laws and by a very intense propaganda campaign. In school and in the streets, Karl was constantly confronted by members of the 'Hitler Jugend,' the infamous Hitler Youth group. In November of 1938, he saw first-hand the terrible effects of 'Kristallnacht,' often known as the 'Night of Broken Glass,' during which arson and vandalism against Jewish property resulted in the destruction of many businesses and organizations. Karl remembers vividly the terror brought on by the first major Allied air raid over Cologne. By that time the Jewish population of Cologne had been enclosed in overcrowded ghetto quarters and 'resettlement to the East' had begun. In 1942 five transports to the east removed virtually all of Karl's Jewish relatives from Cologne. On July 27, 1942, Karl and eight of his immediate family were transported by railroad freight cars to Theresienstadt, in northern Bohemia. When the family arrived in the ghetto of Theresienstadt, they were each sent in different directions. Karl, now 14, was quartered with other young people in a 'Youth Home.' On May 15, 1944 Karl and surviving members of the family, reunited briefly, when they were again transported, this time to Auschwitz. Upon arriving at Auschwitz II - Birkenau, they were assigned to 'Family Camp B,' which already housed persons transported from Theresienstadt earlier. Karl and his family were again separated and 14 and entered camp life which included the tattooing of an identification number on the forearm, confinement behind electrified barbed wire, standing long hours for 'Appell' (inspection) to be counted or as punishment, sleeping in an assigned spot on a straw mattress in a crowded barracks, and living on a daily basis with terrible hunger and disease. Toward the end of June 1944, a special selection identified workers to be sent to labor camps. Karl watched his father and two older brothers leave for an uncertain future. Those who remained acquired the feeling and smell of death; the flames from the camp crematoria were visible every night. A group of 99 youths, from 14 to 16 years old, including Karl, were selected by the S.S. to be sent to 'Men's Camp D.' They were placed in a penal unit and had their heads shaved. Wearing the standard uniform of striped shirt and pants and wooden shoes, Karl was assigned to hay wagon transport detail which visited other Birkenau camps. Existing on a minimal amount of food and subjected to extreme discipline, the boys were often forced to stand at 'appell' for as long as 24 hours without moving. Rules infractions often resulted in 'final selection,' the trip which ended in the crematorium. On July 11, 1944, Karl stood helplessly by as the remaining inmates of 'Family Camp B,' including his mother and three younger siblings, were marched toward the gas chambers and crematoria. From October 1944 until January 1945, Karl was assigned to work on a lathe in an armaments factory at the Sosnowiec labor camp. The camp was closed in January by the S.S. who forced the remaining inmates to march through winter cold and snow for nine days until they arrived at Troppau in northeastern Czechoslovakia. Of the more than 900 who left Sosnowiec, Karl was one of only 200 who survived to then be stuffed into three railroad freight cars for a three-day ride to Camp Mauthausen, near Linz in upper Austria. At the new camp Karl received a new I.D. number on a metal wristband and was soon assigned to work 12-hour shifts, day or night, in an automated small weapons factory located in blind tunnels excavated in the side of a mountain. 15 An advance tank unit of the U.S. Army arrived at the camp on May 5, 1945. However, Karl was, thanks to near starvation, too weak to be liberated with the other inmates. He summoned unknown strength, and on May 19 he followed the railroad tracks to Linz where he was officially liberated, received temporary documents and was weighed and measured. He stood 5'10" and weighed only 80 lbs. Karl was then assigned to the Displaced Persons Camp Bindermichl. While in the United Nations Relief & Rehabilitation Agency camp, Karl was given nourishing food and other help to speed his physical recovery. While in Linz Karl heard from an eye-witness of the death of his older brother in Bergen-Belsen, and of the probable death of his father in Auschwitz. He also learned that his second eldest brother, the only other family member not to perish, had survived and had left Linz earlier for Holland. Karl Herz remained in the D.P. Camp and worked as a news writer in German for the U.S. Army Information Services until emigrating to the United States of America in July, 1946. He married his wife Annette in 1952, and they had six children: David and Ronald now deceased, Carol Lynn, Ronald, Debra Sue, and Barbara April. 16 TIBOR KERTESZ Tibor Kertesz was born on May 4, 1923, in Sighet, Romania. His father was a doctor who arrived with his bride to set up practice shortly after World War I. Most of the Jewish population, about half of the 30,000 inhabitants, was poor and very religious. Young Tibor studied music from an early age, and in 1939 traveled to Paris, France to study the cello. He remembers riding on the train through Vienna, Austria and seeing flags with swastikas everywhere. His Romanian passport did not mention his religion, and so he was able to pass through Austria. In July of 1939, Tibor went home to Romania for the summer, leaving his possessions in France since he planned to return in October. However, in September 1939, war broke out and he was forced to stay in Sighet which soon became part of Hungary when Hitler gave part of the Romanian Transylvania to Hungary as a reward for cooperating with the Nazis. After that, life became difficult for the Jewish population. In 1940 the Hungarians occupied the area, and in 1941 Tibor could no longer go to high school when all Jews were expelled from the schools. In 1943 he moved to Budapest to study the cello with a famous musician and became a member of the Budapest Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. While he was away his mother suffered a nervous breakdown and died, and his father was arrested. Despite the turmoil Tibor was married in April, 1944, both he and his new bride Agnes wearing the yellow star of David. A short two weeks later Tibor was taken to a forced labor camp at Nagybanya. At this time, 17 his father, his older brother, his grandmother, and his father's family were deported by the Nazis. Sadly, only one aunt and his brother were to survive. The inmates in Tibor's camp were formed into companies and sent toward the Eastern front, from which few returned. To avoid that fate, Tibor was able to suggest to the camp commandant (a Hungarian who did not hate the Jews) that a special company, filled with technically skilled people, be formed to work in the factories near Budapest, closer to his home and his wife. He became a medic in the company, thanks to his interest in his father's medical books at an early age. The factory where he was sent was bombed many times, finally being completely destroyed. Soon the day came when all Jews were to be deported from the factory town. Tibor was caught trying to escape and was badly beaten, but he still managed to get back to his barracks outside the town safely. When the Nazis officially took over power in Hungary, Tibor escaped from the camp and walked to Budapest. He found his wife but couldn't stay in the apartment with her because of continuous searches. He hid for a while in a safe-house which looked like a forced labor camp with fake guards, but it soon became too dangerous and he was on the streets again. To escape deportation he and his wife went to a Swiss embassy safe haven called the 'Glasshouse.' Once there he helped others to escape while living in the basement. On January 19, 1945 they were liberated by the Russian army. Despite being marked for deportation to Siberia by the Russians, Tibor again escaped and found his wife. They returned to Budapest and then, because food was scarce in the city, they went to Szeged where Tibor worked in the opera orchestra. In time they went by truck to the American occupation zone in Austria and found his brother in a D.P. camp. On their way to emigrate to Argentina, Tibor passed through Paris, which no longer had the joy of his early youth. Once safe in South America, Tibor became a working musician and conductor, finally coming to the United States in 1971, settling in Hollywood and then Las Vegas where he organized the Las Vegas Chamber Orchestra. He has one son, Robert Frances who was born in 1950. 18 ERNEST OSTREICHER Ernest Ostreicher was born on April 10, 1925, in Sighet, Romania. His father, a shoemaker, and his mother had four children: Ernest and his three sisters, Gita, Shari, and Isabelle. His life as a child was typical until he and his family were forced to leave their familiar home surroundings and move into teeming ghetto tenements. As in most of Europe, Jews in Romania lost their rights as citizens and their property. He was no longer permitted to attend public school, visit parks or libraries, use the streetcars or buses, or make telephone calls. In the spring of 1941, Ernest and his family, including several aunts, uncles, and cousins, were told by the police that they were being sent to a 'work camp,' and could each take only 30 pounds of baggage with them. They were crammed into a railroad freight car like cattle, 60 - 70 people in each, traveling for three straight days. The only toilet facility was a bucket in the middle of the car. By the night of May 16, the train had reached the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps in Poland. The family was pushed off the train and divided into two lines. Young Ernie did not see what happened to his sisters but saw his parents leaving in the other line. With dawn came the realization that his parents had been sent in the direction of the crematoria and had perished. On that first day in camp, Ernie joined thousands of others who had their identification number tattooed on the left forearm. For the next year, Ernie struggled to survive in the most notorious of the Nazi death camps where he worked at hard 19 labor, being given little food with which to build strength. He describes a typical day's meals: mornings the workers were given only a weak liquid which was called coffee; nothing during the day, rarely even water; the evening meal consisted of a weak soup, if he was lucky with cabbage or a small piece of potato in it, and a hunk of bread with a bit of margarine. Life in Auschwitz was always hard as Ernie and his fellow inmates saw death as a daily occurrence. Older inmates advised the young man to use as little energy as possible and save his strength. As the Russians moved closer to liberating Auschwitz, the Nazis took the camp apart and Ernie and the others who still lived were marched for four days through the snow, wearing only light prison clothing and wooden shoes and getting no food at all. Those who were too sick or weary to march fell by the side and were shot. Arriving at Gleiwitz, Poland, he was loaded on a cattle car and shipped seven days and nights through Czechoslovakia to Buchenwald. In mid-January, 1945, he was put to work building an underground factory. As the war worsened for the Germans, Ernie was on the move again. He recalls spending his 20th birthday - April 10, 1945 - on a freight train headed for the Flossenberg camp. At Flossenberg Ernie was finally liberated by American soldiers who found him food and clothing. He has since visited with some of those soldiers who liberated his camp to share memories of the event. After liberation, Ernest fell deathly ill with typhus, was hospitalized, and a month later hurried back to his home town of Sighet to look for surviving family and friends. He soon learned that only 1,500 of the city's 10,000 had survived. He learned that two of his sisters had survived and had been liberated from Bergen-Belsen to be sent to Sweden. He followed and they were reunited. Eventually all three came to the U.S. where he became a successful businessman. He met his wife Evelyn in Cleveland, Ohio. They were married in 1950, and in the 1960s, they moved to Dayton where they raised three children, Helen, Isabel, and Sharon. 20 BLANCA ROSENBERG (BLANKA NEBENZAHL) Blanca Rosenberg was born Blanka Nebenzahl in Gorlice, Poland in 1913. She was the oldest child in a family which included her father Eli , her mother Eleonore, and her brothers Romek, and the twins, Bernard and Itzheg. Until she was six, Blanka was a spoiled only child pampered by her parents and grandparents. That stopped when Romek was born, and Blanka resented the place the new baby took in the affection of the family. But later she realized how wonderful Romek was and loved him dearly. Eli was a loving father but a poor businessman whose small shop in was hurt even more by the anti-Jewish sentiment. Blanka studied in a private, and expensive, Gymnasium (high school) where she was harassed by other students and singled out by the faculty as being unable to pay her tuition on time. To deal with this Blanka began to earn her own tuition by being a tutor of younger children and graduated with honors. She then set her sights on medical school but was not chosen since few Jews were admitted. She turned instead to the study of law at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland which admitted Jews into its law department. While at university Blanka felt the fury of the strong anti-Semitism in Poland, being beaten and degraded by other students. At her parents' urging she began thinking of marriage, and in 1936 she married Wolf Rosenkrantz, a physician, for whom she seemed more a mother than a wife. After her marriage she moved to Warsaw with her husband where he wanted to study, but again the doors were not open, and the couple went to live in the town of Kolomyja, a town on the 21 Russian border, where Wolf became a doctor. In 1939 Kolomyja became part of Russia under a secret agreement between Hitler and Stalin. Blanka's parents continued to live in Gorlice which was now under the control of the Nazis. A son named Zygmund was born in February of 1941. When Zygmund was four months old war broke out between the Russians and the Germans. Blanka's husband was drafted into service with the retreating Russian army leaving her alone with her baby and brother Romek. The next months were very difficult. Jews in their town here harassed by locals and in Nazis alike. New restrictions and dangers appeared daily. Everyone feared the next 'Action,' which was a roundup of Jews to be sent away, probably to their death. Once Romek escaped an 'Action' by hiding under the sink, and once Blanka was grazed by a bullet meant for someone else. Romek was able to find work in a factory run by a very sympathetic woman, Lydia, who would play an important role in Blanka's life. This job meant some meager food for Blanka and the baby who were left in the ghetto each day. The family moved for a time to a farm outside of town which was safer than the ghetto; indeed, during that time much of the ghetto was burned to the ground and many lives lost. Soon they were forced back into the ghetto and its dangers, but thanks to Lydia they climbed over the ghetto wall and hid in the factory. It was too dangerous there so the family returned again to what was left of their ghetto. In desperation Blanka sent her son secretly to her parents in Gorlice, which was safer than where they were. The safety was short-lived as word came from Gorlice that the family, except for the twin sons sent to a labor camp, had been sent to death. Romek in a heroic act sacrificed himself to save others. Blanka was now truly alone. Lydia arranged for Blanka to get false papers and pretend to be Bronislava Panasiak, a Greek-Catholic, born in Lwow, Poland, and thus leave for safety. Accompanied by Lydia's brother Adam she climbed on a train which would lead eventually to freedom. The train led to Lwow where she stayed with Lydia's sister and her husband as she began a new life. There were many difficulties still to be faced as she moved from 22 town to town. Finally she was sent to Heidelberg, Germany to work as a maid in a Nazi household. On April 1, 1945 she was liberated by Allied forces and went home to Poland to seek any remaining family. Miraculously, she found her husband Wolf, but both of them realized they no longer wanted to be married. Soon she remet an old friend, Sam Rosenberg, from her university days and they fell in love and were married at the end of 1945 in Salzburg, Austria where they lived for four years, blessed with the birth of twin boys, A