CZECH HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WORKS TO EDUCATE OTHERS
Rose Schindler hosts talks with people nationwide
Rose Schindler stood in front of the middle school class. It was 1972 and the first time she ever spoke to anyone outside of family about the Holocaust. Her knees were shaking as she began to talk.
Soon she felt tears as she recalled her father’s last request to her, “Live so you can tell the world what they are doing to us.”
Born in 1929, she grew up on a family farm in Seredne, Czechoslovakia, with her parents and seven siblings.
Most of what they ate was produced on the farm. The children helped milk the cows, collect eggs and tend to crops.
The village was small but had nearly everything needed.
“We had a nice life,” she said.
However, life changed in 1938 when Hungarian soldiers (aligned with Germany) occupied Seredne. Hatred and antisemitism emerged.
Schindler, whose family was Jewish, saw friends abandon her. She was called “dirty Jew” and attacked. Jewish children were barred from schools.
The family was denied basic services and could not travel without approval. They were required to wear gold Stars of David.
Eventually, Rose and her family were taken from their home and forced into a train cattle car along with 60 to 80 people. They spent days with no water, toilets or seating.
When they arrived at Auschwitz, Poland, they were met by German SS officers who undressed them, cut off their hair and confiscated their belongings.
Death was all around. The smell of burning flesh and decaying bodies was in the air. Crying could be heard from the crematorium.
People were diseased and malnourished from