When you think of an individual being a survivor of the Holocaust I would be willing to bet your first thoughts include concentration camps victims, at least that was always my first thought. I never took into consideration that there could be other individuals out there with different stories because we are not taught that anyone survived the Holocaust unless they were saved from a camp or left the country before Hitler's rule took a turn for the malicious. Ruth Gilbert is one of those people we never learned about. A most gracious and elegant Jewish women who for many years hid behind her shame and disgust for her ancestry.
Ruth spoke to our school group two weeks ago about her life before during and after Nazi Germany. She was raised in an upper class family with many beautiful things and opportunities for her life. Without a care in the world as a small child her life was quickly turned upside down when her family was thrown into a Jewish ghetto like so many families were. She went from living the lifestyle of privileged child in her families penthouse apartment to sharing a two room apartment with several families. After many months of watching families come and go, all of which leaving to the same fate (mass murder at a concentration camp) her father finally arranged to have she and her mother snuck out of the ghetto and transported to a family in Poland who would care for them until the war was over. She would soon learn later that her father was murdered during his attempted escape to Russia to join the military.
Over the next several weeks Ruth and her mother pretended to be of polish decent carrying fake passport and ID that of which belonged to a mother and daughter that passed away months earlier. They bounced from family to family in constant fear that they would be discovered and shipped away to a camp to their death. A couple times they came close to capture as families began refusing to help them and others in the communities became suspicious of Ruth herself.
Her mother found work as a live in housekeeper for very wealthy polish families. Only a couple months would pass and they would move on to the next family as her mothers paranoia grew and grew. She even had times of weakness when she thought it may be easier to just turn themselves in because she could not bear the torture of running from the Nazis any longer.
The last family her mother worked for entertained members of the Nazi party on the weekends. They loved to play with Ruth as she was just a little child. One evening one of the soldiers took her upstairs to show her how to use a gun. Ruth not knowing any better found this to be quite comical and entertaining as the soldier fired the gun into the dark night. Her mother however was sure that the rounds she heard were those putting her daughter to death. After this her mother couldn't take anymore and they moved from the home.
Not long after the war had come to an end and Russian soldiers greeted Ruth and her mother with open arms transporting them back to their hometown. Upon arrival they found her aunt and stayed with her for sometime until her mother remarried and the family moved to America. Ruth resented her heritage because for so long she had been convinced that it was something to be ashamed of. Her family moved to Chicago were she adjusted and made a life. She grew up, married, and had children of her own. To her the little girl that faced all those hard times is now someone she doesn't even know. It is as though that person never really existed.
It wasn't until recently that she shared her stories with her sons who are grown with children of their own. She speaks out today because of the importance that this piece of history never be forgotten. Someday the survivors of the Holocaust won't be with us any longer and it is their job to cement into history this momentous event.
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