Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Holocaust survivor shares her life journey
ANDERSON, Mo. — In the evening presentation of Erika Schwartz’s story, community members, police officers and school administrators sat quietly in the rows of chairs filling the McDonald County High School Performing Arts Center to hear the story of this Holocaust survivor.
Schwartz, who used a cane to climb steps to the stage, sat in a large, black, wingback chair with notes in hand overlooking the crowd. She had a spotlight on her, highlighting her face, which at first was filled with somberness but then lit up when explaining the joys within her life.
Schwartz presented her story first to students and then to community members, highlighting the fact that she’s “never turned down a chance to speak.” The 80-year-old survivor said she’s done thousands of presentations and talks, and is willing to share her story anywhere, anytime. She takes pride in the fact that she’s never said “no” to an opportunity to share her experiences.
Schwartz’s small body looked fragile in the chair from which she read and started her speech with the line, “I was marked for death from the moment of my birth.” She spoke of the lack of family and friendships she had following the war. She told miraculous stories that played a part in her survival, alongside the survival of Jolan, her mother.
Schwartz described her family’s entrapment in a ghetto in Nyiregyhaza and the eventual transport of most family members to concentration and labor camps. She highlighted family members she lost in the Holocaust, sharing a story about each of them.
David Petrover, Schwartz’s grandfather, vanished in a roundup in 1944. Hani Wertheimer Petrover, Schwartz’s grandmother, was murdered in an Auschwitz gas chamber in May of 1944. Margit Petrover Bohm, Schwartz’s aunt, was murdered on the day of liberation on Jan. 27, 1945.
Imre and Miki Bohm, Schwartz’s child cousins, were also murdered in an Auschwitz gas chamber in May of 1944. Avrum Petrover, Schwartz’s uncle, died in a prison camp on April 3, 1943. Szuszi Petrover, Schwartz’s child cousin, was murdered in an Auschwitz gas chamber in May of 1944.
Olga Petrover, Schwartz’s aunt, died after leaping from the roof of a building in Budapest while being pursued by Hungarian Arrow Cross members, saving Schwartz and her mother, on July 5, 1944. Jeno Petrover, Schwartz’s uncle, died in a prison camp on Jan. 15, 1943. Hermann Hornstein, Schwartz’s father, died in a labor camp on March 8, 1945.
On a pamphlet handed out at the beginning of Schwartz’s presentation, photos of her family members were presented under a header reading, “Ten of the six million, please remember them.”
Schwartz said she never knew her father, but he held and kissed her when she was only a few days old, along with other family members who knew her for a very short time. While reflecting, Schwartz thought about her cousins, Szuszi, Imre and Miki, who were murdered as children.
Schwartz’s voice cracked when noting that thinking about the relationship she has with her own great-grandsons, she cannot imagine her grandmother’s final moments holding the babies in a gas chamber. The color drained from Schwartz’s face at the unfathomable thought.
Although Schwartz’s harrowing story was filled with murder, loss and tremendous suffering, she said she feels happiness today that she never thought she’d experience, adding she began her “journey of self-discovery” at the age of 44.
Today, Schwartz has a husband, with whom she’s been married for 60 years, two brothers, sons, a granddaughter, and three great-grandsons. She is living in Springfield, Mo. — a place she loves.
“If somebody would have told me 20 years ago that I have the life that I have at this moment, it would be like I was talking to a Martian,” Schwartz said. “I could not imagine. Before I started this quest [journey of self-discovery], I didn’t even realize that I didn’t know what it felt like to be happy. I started working through this process of changing the way I saw life and the things around me.”
Schwartz said her great-grandkids have changed her life, although it was difficult to see them at the age at which her younger cousins were murdered.
“I remember there were times shortly after we moved to Missouri, and our great-grandkids then became a big part of our lives, the relationship changed entirely, and I remember early on having those thoughts, looking at those kids thinking, ‘My God. This is the age Miki was when he was gassed, or Szuszi,’” she said.
“The love is indescribable,” Schwartz said. “Mothers have no idea what it’s like to become a grandmother and a great-grandmother. For me, for each generation, it’s gotten more and more intense.”
She described the love for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren as an unfathomable blessing she never imagined experiencing.
Schwartz said the goal of sharing her story is to teach others that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that she found joy after an early life filled with pain and loss.
“I was able to climb out of that hole of depression,” she said. “I totally learned a whole different way of responding to my life. I can sometimes see the light go on in some of their [students] eyes. And that is my favorite — I live for that. I feel like I’ve made a difference in their lives that will last for all of their lives. And I wish I had had that when I was a kid.”
Today, Schwartz travels with her husband and family to share her story. She is halfway through writing a book on her experiences, which she hopes to have completed by mid-2024.
Schwartz said her favorite quote — one that got her through her hardest days and changed her way of thinking — is this: “You cannot control what goes on around you, but you can control what goes on between your two ears.”