It takes guts to survive [NQM030]

As a 14 year old girl in 1944 Rose Schindler and her immediate family, 11 people in total, were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. A year later, only her and her two older sisters survived to the end of the war. Out of an extended Schindler family of roughly 200 people, only 11 survived. This was the result of the ruthless Nazi campaign called the Final Solution, to eradicate Jews, among other minorities, during World War II. Out of all concentration camps,. Auschwitz is the most infamous. The BBC did a detailed 4-part documentary that is available on YouTube. PBS has a documentary compiled of original footage from camps across the German territories. This one is very graphic and incredibly sobering, but it paints a clearer picture of what Rose and millions of others went through. Reading and listening is one thing, but seeing it is even more unbelievable.

Although an estimated 100,000 Jews served valiantly in the German army in World War I, with 18,000 of them receiving the Iron Cross for bravery on the battlefield above and beyond the call of duty, by the early 1930s it was clear that Nazi propaganda was selectively targeting Europe’s Jewish Population. By 1945, an estimated 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered during the Holocaust, including 90% of the Polish Jews and two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe. An estimated 405,000 Americans perished in the same time period while supporting the war effort, the vast majority of them on the battle field

From her very first talk in 1972, Rose realized the power behind her story of survival, and remembered a promise she had made to her father while at Auschwitz, to tell the world the story of the Holocaust. She talks about the value of staying together as a family (her and her two sisters Hiyasura and Yutke stayed together throughout their captivity), about how you have to have guts and take risks in life to survive and thrive (she snuck out of the gas chamber line more than she can count), and you have to have hope that it can always get better.

After the war she met Max, also a survivor and orphan of the Holocaust, got married and moved to the United States. In 2019, two years after the passing of Max Schindler, she published a book called “Two who survived”, which chronicles both her and Max’s journey of survival. It is one of the most powerful books I have ever read, and certainly one i will reread soon.

Keeley Meier did an excellent interview with Rose in 2020, which you can read here. Rose describes not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the beauty of life that followed, using it as proof that things can always get better. Jocko & Echo had Rose on their podcast as well, and to this day remains one of the most impactful episodes I have listened to. Highlights below:

On the arrival to Auschwitz: As we climb out of the cattle car, all luggage and possessions are tossed into a giant pile. There is no talking allowed and everyone is confused. They begin to separate us in groups. The officers waive my two older sisters and me to the left, Tata and Fischel are directed to the line on the right, while Mama, Aunt Lee, and my three little sisters and baby brother go forward joining another line. That was the last time I saw them. I later found out that this last line led them straight to the gas chambers. About 80% of the people that came off the trains went straight into the gas chamber. All the mothers, children, elderly and sick.

Taking away their humanity: My older sisters and I were marched to a large bathroom, there they had us strip down completely naked and proceeded to shave every bit of hair off our bodies. I had never been naked before strangers before and I felt confused and humiliated. This is so wrong but no one is saying anything. The soldiers took photographs of us, humiliated us further. This must be hell, because I have never experienced something so bad. They stripped us of our humanity.

On smelling and tasting the ash of human bodies: All of us notice a giant fire spewing black smoke across the open area from us. There is an overpowering foul sense coming from the fire, somehow I taste the fire in my mouth. Yutke (her older sister) asks the guard what all the noise and screaming is all about coming from the fire. This is where they burned the bodies coming from the gas chambers. Sometimes the gas was not completely effective and some of the bodies they piled into the furnaces were still alive. Sometimes they would send people straight to the furnace.

One way out of the misery: There is a twelve foot electric fence encircling the camp. Dead people hang off the fence. Their bodies contorted. I wonder why so many people grabbed on to the fence to end their life, what kind of hell are we in?

On the promise she is keeping to this day: Tata holds both my hands and looks me in the eyes “make sure you stay alive so you can tell the world what they are doing to us.” I ensured him I would do my best.

On being forced to kill family members: Camp had 28,000 women. The Jews worked everything, including the gas chamber and incinerators. If they didn’t do a job, they would get shot. They saw their own families go into the gas chamber and furnaces, and there wasn’t anything they could do or say. They also knew after an approximately three month shift, they would go into the gas chambers themselves, so they could never tell the world what they were forced to do.

Beginning to understand the appeal of the electric fence: I begin to see why some touch the electric fence to end their misery. They couldn’t take it anymore. You touch the fence, and twenty seconds later you would see blood coming out of their nose and they were dead. And they would come with these big wheelbarrows every day to come and collect the dead bodies.

On the power of hope: We have to keep going, like Tata told us. It will eventually get better, we need to believe. We need to have hope. One of the ladies hugs me close and says, you will never understand what these Germans are doing because it is beyond comprehension. It does not make sense and it never will. Remember you are the sane one here. Remember that you need to go inside of yourself and remember who you are. They can not steal your soul unless you give it to them. Never surrender your soul. Follow the rules and survive, so that the real you can blossom again when you are free. War is a horrible thing, but it will end. When it does, there is another life for you outside of Auschwitz, and you need to live for that.

Next time you complain about being hungry, think about this: The only thing we got for breakfast was black coffee, and it wasn’t really coffee to begin with. To this day, I have never drank anything that foul. I took one sip, and that was the only time I ever tried it. We are literally starving. Lunch is nothing but a piece of bread. It is dry and hard and we are told they occasionally mix sawdust into the bread.

On taking chances to survive: I need to be selected for factory duty to get out of Auschwitz, but I am just skin and bones. Yutke and Hiyasura help me stand up and pinch my cheeks so I have some color. My worst fear is when the officers see my naked body and see how weak I am, and send me to the gas chamber line. It is a torturous few minutes walking to the line. There is so much going on around us that I am thinking about sneaking away. At the agreed upon moment I sneak out of line and walk back to the barracks with my sisters. 

The only remaining possessions they found after the war: After 4 weeks of traveling on the train, we reach our home town of Seredne. Our once cozy beautiful home is unrecognizable. All our belongings are gone, the roof had caved in, and it looked like the house was used as a stable as there was horse manure everywhere. I go straight to spot where Tata had buried the shoebox with our final possessions. I am relieved to see it is still there. One pocket watch chain, my parents wedding rings, earrings and a couple of gold chains. This is all that remained of our past life.

On learning the faith of her older brother and father: A few days before the end of the war, Fischel, along with 300 other men, were marched into the forest were they were forced to dig a huge hole. They then were promptly executed, falling into their own grave. A man who had worked with Tata told me he got very sick, and had sores on his legs that wouldn’t heal. When he could no longer work at the factory, they shipped him back to Auschwitz where he was murdered