Dani Drucker provided a fitting
coda to the candle-lighting, singing
a beautiful rendition of “Rozhinkes
mit Mandlen (Raisins and
almonds)”. Dani, who performed
at last year’s ceremony, had a survivor
Grandmother, Dolly Relkin,
a former NST resident who passed
away a little more than a year ago.
Drucker honored her spirit with
this lullaby, which her grandmother
used to sing to her.
“My name is Rosalie Simon and
I am a Holocaust survivor.” With
these words, the night’s speaker
began her story.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Rosalie
was the youngest of six children,
five girls and a boy. It was Passover
of 1944 and Rosalie was only
twelve, when she and her mother
and father, sisters and brother,
were forced to leave their home
by the Nazis. Only a year before at
11, she was expelled from school
and forced to wear a yellow star to
identify her as a Jew. In the year that
followed, the situation continued to
escalate as Jews were beaten in the
streets by Hungarian police. As her
family joined fellow Jewish families
in a designated area, awaiting further
instructions, all they had were
some clothing, pictures, as well as
cookies and bread, Rosalie’s mother
had baked for the trip.
Rosalie and her family were
deported to a ghetto in Hungary, a
ghetto so overcrowded, they were
forced to sleep in a cemetery, rain or
shine. Several days late, the Simons
were relocated to an attic with
several other families. Living conditions
were difficult, nonetheless.
Eventually, the Nazis moved
everyone by train to Auschwitz. The
young and able-bodied were segregated
to the right, while the children,
old and feeble, were directed
to the left. At 45, Rosalie’s mom was
shoved to the latter, Rosalie in tow,
respectively deemed too old and too
young to prove useful. Her father,
sisters and brother were forced
to the right. There was no way of
knowing what lay in store for each,
but as Rosalie walked with her
mom toward the left, she heard an
announcement that those heading
left would be treated to more bread.
It was then Rosalie decided
she would retrieve her sisters and
brother and bring them back with
her, her innocent mind thinking
only of ensuring her beloved siblings
would get additional bread
as well. She snuck away from her
mom and ducked unnoticed to the
right, where she found the rest of
her family. But she was not as lucky
with her attempt to return to her
mother, stopped by the SS. Rosalie
never saw her again.
“I found out later that the
announcement I heard over the
loudspeaker was a big lie. Not
only was there no bread, but all
those people—mothers carrying
the babies in their arms and the
little children, holding onto their
mothers’ skirts along with trucks
full with people who got off the
train and were unable to work—
were heading unknowingly straight
to the gas chambers.”
To prevent panic and facilitate
the extermination process, the
Nazis instructed everyone to strip
and place their clothing neatly aside
for easy retrieval after they’d showered.
There system was to get rid
of the bodies as fast as possible, so
they could push in each successive
group, who awaited in ignorance
for their turn to die. As new arrivals
to Auschwitz, they had no idea the
true horror of the gas chambers.
Poison, not water, spewed from
the shower nozzles, suffocating
the victims. If any survived their
time of exposure, they were shoved
alive into the furnace with the dead.
“To this day, there are still fingernail
marks and bloodstains on the
walls of the gas chamber, indicating
the tortuous pain and horror they
suffered until they finally died.”
What slight solace Rosalie could
take in her mother’s fate was that
she was spared from watching her
youngest child choking to death.
Sadly, Rosalie later learned her
brother also became a victim of the
gas chamber, a fate she narrowly
escaped, her good intentions to
reunite her sisters with her mother
saving her life.
For the time being, Rosalie was
alive. She and her sisters were
crowded into barracks with others,
sleeping twelve to a bed. Each
day was a struggle, enduring the
hunger and adverse condition by
her sisters’ sides.
One day, it was announced the
Nazis were looking for young,
healthy women to be sent to
Germany to work. A spark of hope
burned in Rosalie. Maybe she’d get
out of Auschwitz alive.
The Auschwitz doctor, notorious
Dr. Josef Mengele, showed up to
determine who was fit enough,
essentially who would live and who
would die. Everyone was ordered
to undress and march before “The
Angel of Death” naked. A skinny
and frail 12-year-old, Rosalie did
what she could to look healthy,
pinching her face to add color to
her cheeks and walking as erect
as possible. But it was to no avail.
Mengele stopped Rosalie, placing
a hand on her shoulder, turning
her around and ordering her to be
taken away.
It was at this moment Rosalie felt
the grim thoughts recounted in the
opening paragraph.
Rosalie refused to give up, however,
jumping up and scratching at
the window of the room where she
was detained, screaming, sobbing
and pleading. “Don’t leave me here!
Somebody, please let me out! I
don’t want to die!”
Outside the room, Rosalie’s
sisters pleaded with Mengele to
allow Rosalie to rejoin them, only
to be told if they wished to be with
Rosalie, they could join her and
suffer the same fate. One mother
did decide to die with her child,
entering the room with Rosalie and
others who were sentenced to die.
Rosalie believes it is the sacrifice
of this mother, which fomented the
miracle about to occur. A young,
red-headed Jewish girl, who assisted
Mengele to keep order, witnessed
Rosalie frantic struggle to save her
life through a window. It touched
her heart and she secretly opened
the door for Rosalie, handed her a
striped dress and told her to run.
“An exchange had been made: my
life for the mother who wanted to
die with her child.”
Naked and running in terror,
Rosalie was found and reunited
with her sisters, but any relief was
short-lived, as Mengele ordered
another round of selections.
Thinking it was only a miracle
which saved her life the first time,
Rosalie fell into despair. Risking her
own life, sister Charlotte grabbed
Rosalie’s hand and the two ran for
the train car, holding those heading
to Germany.
The boss of the munitions factory
in Germany where Rosalie was sent
to work was “a righteous gentile
who cared,” and had a daughter the
same age as Rosalie. He helped her
as best he could, with extra bread
when the guards weren’t looking.
With the war nearing its end and
German army losing, Rosalie and
the other workers were transferred
to a camp near Dachau, where
they were practically starved to
death, bodies of the dead piling
up every day.
Finally, the prisoners were taken
on a long march to another train,
which was stopped and liberated
by the American army. The soldiers
informed them that nearby ditches
had already been dug, where the
Nazis intended to throw their bodies
after shooting them. Rosalie had
narrowly escaped death once again,
but thankfully this time for good.
“I was truly a miracle child,
destined to live,” she said. “I feel
blessed to be alive and carry on
the message of the atrocities we
have endured. We, the survivors,
have reached our declining years
and now we are handing over to
the young generation the legacy to
keep the memory alive. We cannot
let the world forget.”
The evening ended with resident
Kandy Diamond singing a lovely
rendition of “Jerusalem of Gold,”
accompanied by resident Fred
Waxenberg on keyboard.
Dani Drucker sang to honor her
grandmother, Dolly Relkin, who
lived in Building #1
Gloria Beck thanks Simon for
sharing her story
May 2018 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 17