Gertrude Rosenbaum

Tarnow, Poland

My mother was born on March 22, 1916 into a Bobover Chasidic family in Tarnow, Poland. Of her parents and four siblings, she alone survived the deprivation and horror of Plaszow, Oederan, Auschwitz and Mauthausen. She was liberated in 1945 and was relocated to the DP camp in Bad Ischl, Austria, where she met my father. They married in October 1945 and came by ship to Baltimore in 1947. Life in the U.S. was not easy because of financial struggles and lingering health issues from her war experiences. Out of the ashes of the ovens have come six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Through suffering, adversity and challenge, my parents always focused on family and on commitment to Jewish values and practice.