THE REDHEAD OF AUSCHWITZ
When a redheaded Jewish teenager named Rosie was rounded up with her family and deported to Auschwitz in 1944, she had no idea the horrors that awaited her there. But she did know she was going to go home one day, and that belief - along with wits, luck, moxie, love and maybe even fate - kept her alive through unspeakable horror until she was shipped to Bergen-Belsen camp and eventually liberated. Rosie, now 96, lived to share this story with her 28 grandchildren - including Nechama, the author, whose Instagram she shares with Rosie. Their lively and loving account, @theredheadofauschwitz , and this extraordinary, unforgettable book, are inspiration that hope can triumph even in the depths of darkness.
This book is a staggering feat, alternating between Rosie’s beautiful childhood memories before the war and unflinching descriptions of despair in Auschwitz. You may think to yourself, I know this story, I’ve read about the Holocaust already. You may even want to scroll on, believing there are enough of these stories. I implore you: please don’t. Stories like Rosie’s are vanishing, and they are more urgently important now than ever. They help us to process the incomprehensible - rather than seeing the Holocaust as numbers, years, statistics, we can see it through the lens of human souls: daughters, sisters, friends. Antisemitic incidents in the US are at an all time high; books like Maus are being banned, in attempts to erase this time in history from our schools and libraries. If Rosie’s powerful story can endure in our minds and hearts, history can never repeat itself again.
In one scene that will always stay with me, some of the prisoners, believing death was near, sat calmly discussing recipes from home to distract themselves from the surrounding terror. But, Nechama and Rosie, I did not make any of these for this post even though I hope to make that kokosh cake one day. Instead I made this challah last week during Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, to honor this book. Keep telling your story to all who will listen - thank you for sharing it with me.
