Holocaust survivor shares her story to educate others

By Lori Newman, Brooke Army Medical Center Public AffairsApril 24, 2015

Holocaust Days of Remembrance event
Brooke Army Medical Center Command Sgt. Maj. Tabitha Gavia and BAMC Troop Command commander Col. Gary Cooper present guest speaker Rose (Sherman) Williams with a framed original drawing of a hand wrapped in barbed wire which turns into a beautiful ro... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- Brooke Army Medical Center and U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research staff received a rare opportunity April 17 to hear a chilling first-hand account from a Holocaust survivor during an event to commemorate the Holocaust Days of Remembrance.

In 1939, Rose (Sherman) Williams was just 12 years old when Germany invaded her town of Radom, Poland, where she lived with her parents, grandmother and three siblings.

"In a very short time of being occupied by the Germans, the lives of the Jewish people became almost unbearable," Williams said.

Jewish children were not allowed to attend school, they were forced to wear yellow arm bands and food became very limited. The Sherman family was forced to move from their home into a ghetto. The family lived in a single room in a basement with no heat or water.

In 1942, the ghetto was liquidated and the family was forced to move again. As Williams was standing in line with her grandmother, they noticed the children were being taken. When her grandmother tried to stop them, she was shot as Williams looked on in horror.

"My grandmother was lying at my feet and I was unable to even bury her," she said. "I was wondering how many people were going to step on the body of my grandmother."

After that, Williams was separated from her parents and sent to another town where she worked in an ammunition factory. During that time she learned her parents were also dead.

A young woman named Elsie befriended me and became like a surrogate mother, but I missed my family deeply, she explained.

"The Holocaust took such a big part out of my life," Williams said sadly.

From there she was sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where she received her tattoo. Life at Auschwitz was very hard on Williams. She had no shoes and her feet became frostbitten and full of sores. At one point, she was so downtrodden she even asked to be sent to the crematorium, but because she was still young they did not send her.

Williams was able to reunite with her younger sister there.

"We kissed and hugged and cried the whole night," Williams said. "My faith, little by little, came back to me."

Again they moved to a different camp where Williams was able to work in a kitchen. She would hide food to bring back to her sister, but one night she was caught and beaten so badly she lost hearing in one ear.

Towards the end of the war, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in northern Germany.

"When we got to Bergen-Belsen we saw nothing but corpses to the left and to the right. It was unbelievable that we lived in such conditions and survived," she said. "Thankfully it was only for a few months."

The camp was liberated by British troops on April 15, 1945. After liberation, Williams worked in Stuttgart, Germany until coming to the United States.

Following her compelling story Col. Gary Cooper, BAMC Troop Command commander and Command Sgt. Maj. Tabitha Gavia presented Williams a framed original drawing of a hand wrapped in barbed wire which turns into a beautiful rose.

"We sincerely thank you for sharing your experiences with us," Gavia said. "We believe your life story is of roses and thorns and is an inspiration to us all. You answer the age old question -- how can such a beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many thorns."

She went on to say, "So often people only see the despair from tragedy, but you have shown us how to reach past the thorns and find the rose in others and in life. You have truly touched our hearts and enriched our lives. Thank you so much for being our guest speaker today."

To the audience Gavia said, "We are a better nation, people and military when we embrace the strength and diversity of all our people no matter their religion, origin and ethnicity. It is crucial that we recognize and embrace our history as well as honor these who have come before us."

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