Rosemarie, Kristallnacht Transformation

My twice Jewish Aunt survives the Holocaust by becoming a Gentile cousin and misleading the Gestapo

De: Charlie Liebert

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Rosemarie Liebert was twice a Jew. She was the daughter of a Jew and she was married to a Jew. It’s Berlin, Germany, November 12, 1938 the day after Kristallnacht. Her uncles Jewelry store has been looted. All 19 members of her three uncle’s families disappeared. She knew now she had to find a way to hide. The “escape bag” could save her letting her become her dead cousin Olga. Olga died in Africa with no record of her death in Germany. This is the story of how Rosemarie, the twice Jew, survives the Holocaust as the gentile Olga Quandt. The Gestapo’s pursuit is relentless. Authors note: I dedicate this story of my aunt to my 19 family members who did not survive the Holocaust.Berlin, downtown, November 12, 1938, 1:15 AM. Rosemarie stopped at the corner and looked down the street toward her uncles Hans and Fritz’s Jewelry store. As she expected the windows were broken and the glass and other remnants of the previous night’s looting were still on the sidewalk. On the far corner two Gestapo stood under the street light smoking. She recognized them by the “funny S” on their uniforms as her dead Jewish husband; Albert had called those shoulder markings. Looking back across the street she noticed the sign with the store name was smashed on the sidewalk. The advertising sign that usually hung in the window “Diamanten und Gold zu verkaufen” (Diamonds and Gold For Sale) was on the sidewalk below the window. Painted on it in large, red letters was the word JUDEN! The building had not been burned because it adjoined a building on north side that held Gentile stores. She knew she had to see if the “escape bag” was still there, but she would have to wait until the SS were gone. That bag could be the difference between life and death. As she stood there waiting she thought: “How did I ever get to this situation?” As she stood at the corner waiting, her thoughts flashed back to some of her life events.