Yesterday I saw the movie “Rosenstrasse” together with friends for the tenth time and again had to cry. My parents were considered a “mixed marriage” in the 3rd Reich a as such had certain privileges. Still, had citizens of any ethnic group to live with such “privileges the world would regard it with horror . We were allowed no radio or telephone, could use only one plate on our cooking oven, the others were sealed, had to have a Jewish star on our door, were allowed to sit only on yellow benches, of whom soon there were none, got smaller rations, were not allowed to go to the cellar in case of bombardment, and I had to endure the shoving and name calling in school and the contemptuous treatment by teachers. On the other hand Jews of mixed marriage were not sent to the extermination camps. Im March ’43 the Nazis decided to end this “good life” and rounded up all the surviving Jews of Berlin, from whom the full Jewish families were sent to the camps right away, while those of mixed marriages were first assembled at a building in Rosenstrasse. The episode of Rosenstrasse was forgotten after WW2, as so much horror had occurred that this was unimportant. At the funeral of my mother I told the Chief rabbi about it and he couldn’t believe it, called it the “miracle of the century”. He started a research and found out it was true. When I came on a visit to Germany, friends told me that there had been a TV program about it and that a movie was planned. Due to financial difficulties the movie took 10 years to complete. Friends took me to the movie “Rosenstrasse” in 2004 and to my embarrassment I couldn’t stop crying during the whole movie, as I recognized some of the characters. The producers had asked survivors whom they had seen there and got a general description but didn’t know who these women had been and what they were doing. So a story was spun around each: The only little girl in the movie represents my sister, whom my mother had taken there once. After the war the actress plays one of the main characters, the one that lives in New York and whose husband had just died. Of course nothing is as it was in real, life, just as with my mother, who in the movie is one of the most energetic women, as she was in life. In Utube I found clips of the movie, but not the whole movie. https://youtube/watch?v=Dz2ZDLXH2Ms https://youtube/watch?v=QEVT_3689dk https://youtube/watch?v=QEVT_3689dk In Wikipedia I read under “critics” a comment by an assistant in the Holocaust museum in Washington, that the tale was wishful thinking, as it would have been impossible that a handful of women could defy the Nazis and win. Reading that, I got angry and added that I am a witness that it really had happened: In Nazi occupied countries the Nazis wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot, but inside Germany their image of civilized people was important to them. The Jews, after having been released, were sent to dangerous work. My father was sent to unload trains even during bombing attacks. Thus the Nazis hoped to let the Allies do their dirty work. My father survived and joined us in Heidelberg-Kirchheim, where we were hidden with the help of the whole 10.000 population, including the Nazis, after the war. My comment under “critics” in the “Rosenstrasse” article in English remained, while the German one was deleted. I wrote to the assistant that had declared that, asking her to accept my version and that I would be very sad that my and the rabbis instigation for a check, that had proved that the episode had really happened, would become worthless and all would be soon forgotten, but up till now haven’t received an answer. Witnesses that had described what had happened did not know who these women were, so a tale was spun around each one, which was different from the truth. The first actress that appears in the movie plays my sister inn New York years later, who is grieving for her husband that had just died. While she lived in Israel and is divorced from her husband in the Netherlands. Her daughter, who in the movie started the investigation, lived for some time in New York,but returned to Israel. Her mother - my sister - is against her marriage with a Christian in the movie, while in reality her daughter is married to a Jew, whom my sister loved. A bit confusing :)
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 06:07:00 +0000
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