Page 24 - Jewish News_February 2020

24A February 2020 JEWISH INTEREST

The horror that was Gross-Rosen

By Paul R. Bartrop, PhD By Arlene Stolnitz
January 1945, camp officials began the
n February 1945 – 75 years ago care and were forbidden from talking sub-camps held 76,728 prisoners. sub-camps. Male prisoners were relo-A
December program at the Na-
this month – Gross-Rosen, a large to other prisoners. All those sent into A census of the camp population process of closing Gross-Rosen and its tional Museum of American
INazi concentration camp located slave labor conditions were severely in January 1945 indicated that almost Jewish History (NMAJH) in
near the village of the same name (now overworked, and many simply col- 26,000 women were also incarcerated cated to the main camp from the exter-Philadelphia featured a unique musical
Rogoźnica, Poland), was liberated by lapsed where they stood. there. This represented one of the larg- nal sites, while the women were forced performance by well-known Universi-
Soviet forces. We Hanna Granek Erlich was one of est aggregations of female prisoners onto cruel death marches where many ty of Chicago faculty soprano-compos-
tend to think of the these slave workers. She was sent to in any of the German concentration died. The destination of these marches er Patrice Michaels, daughter-in-law of
Nazi concentration a factory sub-camp at Peterswaldau, camps outside of the women’s concen- was, for the most part, other camps Ruth Bader Gins-
camps being liber- where a weapons manufacturing plant tration camp at Ravensbrück and the deep inside Germany. In total, up to burg. The pro-
ated in April and was located. At night, she recalled, “we massive Auschwitz complex. The cen- 40,000 prisoners underwent this brutal gram was part of
May of 1945, but af- slept in a room with over 50 women. sus revealed that most of the Jews at trial, in bitterly cold weather. a larger initiative
ter Auschwitz at the We slept downstairs on bunks cov- Gross-Rosen had been relocated there The rest of the camp, and most of honoring Justice
end of January 1945, ered with straw, and over us, upstairs, from camps in Poland and Hungary. those in the sub-camps, were evacu- Ginsburg. Other
Dr. Paul Bartrop Gross-Rosen was an the men used to sleep.” Conditions, Set to work under the close supervision ated from the beginning of February events honoring
early example of the horror that was to she remembered, were dreadful. The of sadistic Nazi guards, they suffered 1945. Some of the remaining Jews RBG included
confront Allied forces later. hall was filthy, and the prisoners were under especially cruel working condi- were transported to Bergen-Belsen, the “Only in
Located about 40 miles southwest full of lice. Hanna worked seven days tions. while others were sent to Buchenwald, America” award
of Wrocław in modern-day Poland, a week, from morning to night, and As the war progressed and Ger- Flossenbürg, Mauthausen and Dora- Arlene Stolnitz and RBG’s in-
Gross-Rosen was at once a concen- “didn’t dare make a mistake.” These many’s demands began relying more Mittelbau. The few remaining prison-duction into the “Only in America Gal-
tration and a forced labor camp. Built were met by German guards who, she and more on forced labor, the reach ers still in the sub-camps, by the end lery/Hall of Fame,” part of NMAJH’s
initially in 1940 as a sub-camp of said, “would beat us or even kill us.” of the Gross-Rosen complex became of the war, were liberated by Soviet tribute to Jews who have achieved
Sachsenhausen, on May 1, 1941, it When Gross-Rosen was first one of the largest in all of Europe. At troops on May 8-9, 1945. extraordinary accomplishments that
became independent. Eventually, it opened, most prisoners were political the end of 1943, transports of Jews to In sum, it has been estimated that possibly have changed the world. If I
would encompass some 97 sub-camps, detainees, resistance fighters, or those Gross-Rosen and its sub-camps, lo- about one third of all those who passed lived closer, I would not have missed
where prisoners were put to work in deemed “socially unacceptable” such cated throughout Lower Silesia and the through Gross-Rosen died as a result this event!
a nearby granite quarry. Here, large as gay men or Roma. The number of Sudetenland, intensified. Eventually, of their experiences between 1940 and Ms. Michaels, married to James
numbers died. prisoners in the camp rose steadily, prisoners worked throughout eastern February 1945. When we think about Ginsburg, son of Justice Ginsburg, has
In many of these sub-camps where however, from an initial 1,500 or so in Germany and western Poland for com- the horror of the Holocaust, it is worth been composing, in secret, songs based
prisoners were exploited as slave labor, 1941. In late 1943 and early 1944, Jews panies like I.G. Farben, Daimler-Benz remembering that it was played out in on letters in RBG’s possession writ-
conditions were deplorable. Food was began arriving at Gross-Rosen and its and Krupp. Some of the sub-camps fo- more places than Auschwitz or the oth-ten to and from family members and
meager and poor, sanitation primitive, sub-camps in large numbers, until they cused on “special” Nazi projects deep er extermination camps, or locations in friends over many years. The cycle of
and medical care virtually nonexistent. formed the biggest single group in the underground. the villages of Russia, or the ghettos nine songs is sung by Michaels, and the
Thousands fell victim to starvation camp complex. It is estimated that at Brünnlitz, one of Gross-Rosen’s scattered throughout Poland and else-album was produced by James, who re-
and diseases, and large numbers were least 125,000 prisoners passed through sub-camps, became famous later. Ger- where. One of the lesser-known places alized what a treasure the songs were.
killed arbitrarily by guards through Gross-Rosen between 1941 and 1945, man industrialist Oskar Schindler re- of terror and death, liberated 75 years The result is a collection of music, in
beatings and cruel punishments. Jews and even in late 1944, just before the located his factory there. At Brünnlitz, ago this month, was Gross-Rosen – operatic style (an RBG preference),
were not allowed to receive medical camp’s liberation, Gross-Rosen and its in unique circumstances, he managed and there were a vast number of oth-saluting the life and achievements of
What do you think? to protect some 1,100 Jews working in ers throughout the German sphere that Justice Ginsburg as a legal pioneer in
his factory, at the same time ensuring
would share similar experiences in the celebration of her 25 years on the Unit-
The Jewish News wants to know! that they did not suffer from the same coming months. ed States Supreme Court.
Dr. Paul Bartrop is Professor of His-
tortures inflicted elsewhere. He also
The 40-minute classical album
Send an email to jewishnews18@gmail.com. made sure that his factory did not pro- tory and the Director of the Center contains moments from her law school
duce anything of value for the German

Letters Policy war effort. for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide days, her early working life, and even
Studies at Florida Gulf Coast Univer-a letter she received early on from Jus-
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words, must be typed, and include the writer’s name, mailing When Soviet troops began ap- sity. He can be reached at pbartrop@tice Douglas asking for qualified wom-
address and phone number. Letters can be submitted via USPS or email (jewishnews18@gmail.com).
Not all letters will be published. Letters may be edited for length and content. proaching the complex at the end of fgcu.edu. en who might apply for a position on

Let Me Be Myself:

The Life Story of Anne Frank

PUBLIC PROGRAM

HOW DID AMERICAN WOMEN ACT?

HEROISM ON THE HOME FRONT

Wednesday, February 19, 7 p.m.
Temple Beth Sholom
1050 South Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota

Women’s roles changed significantly in World War II America.
Many were conscripted to join the war effort and wielded new
power through jobs outside the home.

But, their influence wasn’t limited to factory floors. Some women
used their social and political positions to fight back against
isolationism and sound the alarm about the plight of Europe’s Jews.
A select few even put their lives at risk to organize acts of rescue.

Join us to explore the role of the everyday woman during this era,
as well as the mindset and motivations of a few extraordinary
individuals who dared to act, including Lois Gunden, Edith Rogers,
and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Opens January 25, 2020 This program is free and open to the public, but reservations

at The Florida Holocaust Museum are required at ushmm.org/events/women-sarasota.
For more information, please contact the Museum’s
Southeast Regional Office at 561.995.6773 or southeast@ushmm.org.

The story of Anne Frank told in a modern way, addressing
current day issues of identity, exclusion, and discrimination.
This exhibition also features a Virtual Reality (VR) component Co-presented with
that allows the visitor to travel back in time to Anne Frank’s
hiding place, the “Secret Annex.”

PHOTO: Women attend an airplane construction class at a vocational school in DeLand, Florida, in April 1942.
Library of Congress

Let Me Be Myself was developed by the Anne Frank
House and is sponsored in North America by the Anne
Frank Center for Mutual Respect.
Images: ©AFF/AFH – Basel/Amsterdam. HOLOCAUST
The VR experience provided by Oculus Education.
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126
55 5th St. S. St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-820-0100 • www.TheFHM.org