Anna Rosenberg recounts in her memoir the truly difficult circumstances in which she grew up. She was born inGermany at the close of World War II. Her pregnant mother had trekked from the Soviet Union. Soon after her birth, her mother and aunt were arrested by the Red Army in Germany and sent to labor camps in the Soviet Union. Anna was raised by her grandmother in communist East Germany, and later by an aunt in a small village in West Germany. After escaping an abusive family situation, the rest of her life was intertwined with the Rosenberg family, Jews from Warsaw who had survived World War II. In this memoir, she recounts not only her own life, but also the experiences of the Rosenbergs of Warsaw. The Rosenbergs survived the Warsaw Ghetto, service in the Red Army, and Soviet labor camps. She married Abraham (“Bolek”) Rosenberg, who helped her in a time of great need, and together they raiseda son, David, in the Jewish tradition, while Anna herself converted — a rare phenomenon in postwar Germany. After Bolek’s death, Anna found true love with his brother, Chaim,known to everyone as Hymie, in Atlantic City. Their lives, which began in the tragedy and pain of war and genocide, thus took a happy turn late in their lives.

Table of Contents

Editor’s Introduction .............................................................i

Prologue: Looking Back ..................................................... ix

One: A Child of War and Peace...........................................1

Two: Growing up with Oma in Westewitz..........................4

Three: Life with Aunt Anni in Lohra...................................8

Four: Apprenticeship in the Caritas House, Giessen........13

Five: First Marriage and Loss of Tommy...........................22

Six: Life with Bolek in Giessen..........................................29

Seven: The Rosenbergs of Warsaw.....................................32

Eight: The Rosenbergs in World War II.............................35

Nine: The Rosenbergs after the War..................................42

Ten: “Black Chaim” and the Struggle for Israel................44

Eleven: Chaim Arrives in America.....................................47

Twelve: Marrying Bolek.....................................................51

Thirteen: My Mother’s Tribulations in the Soviet Union....53

Fourteen: Immigration to the United States......................55

Fifteen: A New Beginning in Frankfurt.............................57

Sixteen: The Curious Case of Frau See...............................61

Seventeen: The Conversion................................................64

Eighteen: One of My Happiest Moments..........................70

Nineteen: Integration in West Germany............................73

Twenty: David’s School Years.............................................75

Twenty-one: Bolek’s Demons.............................................78

Twenty-two: David’s Bar Mitzvah and Family Travels......80

Twenty-three: The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Antisemitism..82

Twenty-four: Bolek’s Illness.................................................85

Twenty-five: My Unscrupulous Half-Brother....................86

Twenty-six: David Finds his Calling..................................89

Twenty-seven: Bolek’s Final Illness....................................91

Twenty-eight: On My Own................................................93

Twenty-nine: Understanding Life in Israel........................95

Thirty: “Then Hymie got me out onto

the dance floor again”.........................................................97

Thirty-one: Marrying Another Rosenberg!......................102

Thirty-two: My American Dream......................................104

Thirty-three: Our Transatlantic Family............................106

Thirty-four: Reconnecting with Tommy..........................108

Acknowledgements............................................................110

Maps.................................................................................112

Photographs......................................................................114

I came to the United States from Germany in 1996 tovisit my late husband’s brother, Hymie. To my great surprise,I discovered the great love of my life, and the best man I haveever known: warm, sincere, serious, and despite a difficult life,a person with a great heart. I never could have dreamed thatthere could be someone like Hymie! We were so deeply in love,like Romeo and Juliet.

More than a year ago, following a long illness, G-d calledmy husband Hymie home. However, I still cannot come toterms with his passing. I still often sit in the same room athome and ask, “Why?” I only leave the house when I have to.I eat when necessary, and in the evenings I cry myself to sleepbecause I miss him so terribly. Hymie wanted so much to liveand still wanted to do so much with me. “Now I can live, but Iam sick,” he told me repeatedly in those last months. I will lovehim to the end of my days.

In order to explain how all this came to be, I will tell alittle bit about my life, and the lives of the Rosenberg brothersof Warsaw, Poland. After all, my life has been intertwinedwith the Rosenberg family for over fifty years. They are notparticularly happy stories, but perhaps they will be of interestto someone. I am no author, and I do not write perfectly, but Iwill try my best to recount my life with three husbands, two ofthem survivors of the Holocaust and World War II.

Anna Rosenberg2015