Holocaust survivor retells her experience in Remembering the Innocent event

Rosalie Simon talks about her journey from Czechoslovakia to escaping from Auschwitz with the help of her sisters and kind strangers. // Photos courtesy of Nana Phoebe Bjornestad.

A 2020 survey revealed that many young adults are unaware of what happen to six million Jewish people during the Holocaust, according to the Claims Conference. To educate Hofstra University students about the topic, the university co-sponsored an event with the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County (HMTC) on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

“The [HMTC] communications director wanted to become more engaged with Hofstra and young professionals,” said Jennifer Cordeau, an adjunct professor of journalism, media studies and public relations and moderator of the event.

Cordeau introduced Rosalie Simon, a Holocaust survivor, who described her experience.

“I went through this hellish experience,” Simon said. “It's difficult to speak on the past, but I feel like this is my obligation to carry on the message of the Holocaust.”

Simon was born in Czechoslovakia and was the youngest of six children. In 1944, her family was forced to move out of their home.

“We were ordered to pack all we had and gather in a certain area the next day,” she said.

Describing how they were forced to live in both a cemetery and an attic with little food in horrific conditions, Simon recounted that her family was then taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. After arriving at Auschwitz, Simon’s family was separated. Her and her mother were not qualified for labor, and her brother was sent to the gas chamber.

“As I was walking with my mother, I heard an announcement saying that all those people going left would receive more bread,” Simon said. “I made a quick decision without saying anything to my mother to turn around and try to find my sisters. Tragically, I never saw her again.”

Despite reuniting with her sisters, the nightmare of Auschwitz had only begun.

“We were taken to a place where they shaved our heads and male inmates shaved our arms and pubic hair,” Simon said. “After the showers, we were handed striped dresses and walked to our assigned barracks. The beds measured around six by six feet and ten of us were squeezed into it.”

However, Simon explained her plan to escape from Auschwitz with the help of her sisters right under Dr. Josef Mengele’s watch. Different sections were being transported to Germany for labor, and Mengele was in charge of this process.

“Dr. Josef Mengele showed up. He decided who should live and who should die,” Simon said.  “One by one they walked past him totally naked, I tried to look healthy.”

Mengele ordered the guards to take Simon away. Charlotte, one of Simon’s sisters, approached Mengele asking for all five of the sisters to be together. Mengele denied the request.

After being locked in a separate room, Simon tried to get the attention of passersby by knocking on the window. A stranger gave her a chance to live.

“A redheaded young Jewish woman who assisted Dr. Mengele had watched my desperate fight for life through a window and it touched her heart. She secretly opened the door for me, handed me a striped dress and told me to run,” Simon said.

When Simon escaped, her sisters saw her running. One of her sisters joined the fight for freedom.

“Charlotte took my hand running to the train [and] thankfully, we made it. Charlotte risked her life, and I would never forget that,” Simon said.

Simon and her sister arrived in a town called Geislingen an der Steige in Germany where they worked in an ammunition factory. Shortly after, they were liberated by the American army.

Students share their thoughts on Simon’s experience.

“It was very well put together, very emotional, and it is very important for us to know of what happened,” said Taylor Capoziello, a third-year law student.

Simon concluded the event with a message.

“I was truly a miracle child. I feel blessed to be alive and carry on the message of the atrocities we have endured and educate young people about our tragic pasts and what the Nazis did to us,” Simon said. “I have witnessed and experienced, at the age of twelve, the worst possible hate imaginable. The pain of those dark times will never leave me, but I can proudly say I have survived. We must be vigilant so that the history of the Holocaust will never happen again. Never be a silent bystander.”