The March of the Living (MOTL) was established in 1988. Since its inception, almost 300,000 participants including world leaders, educators, Holocaust survivors and students have taken part in the program. Holocaust survivor, educator, lecturer and activist Rose Lefkowitz Rosenkranz participated in the inaugural MOTL and 20 of them overall. When I visited Rose in her home, she shared her story of survival.
“I was born May 2nd, 1944 in Syktyvkar, Siberia. My father’s name was Edward Lefkowitz and my mother was Helen Frankental. I have a younger sister, Sherry. My story is one of resilience and hope. I’m considered a ‘Miracle Baby’ because I was born in a Siberian Slave Labor Camp during the heart of World War II. My parents were originally from Łódź, Poland. My father came from the city and my mother lived in Aleksandrow, a suburb of Łódź. Most of my parents’ family were murdered in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. My father had seven siblings and only two brothers survived the war and eventually settled in the Bronx. My parents spent a majority of the war in slave labor camps including the one I was born in. When I was three months old, Russia made an agreement with the Polish government in exile and moved Polish prisoners (including my family) to Ukraine. This is where my parents and I spent the last eight months of the war. As German forces retreated from Russia, they burned everything in their path. My earliest memory is returning to Poland after the war when I was a year and a half old. Survivors wrote in documents called ‘Black Books’ that they had survived the war. This method was used to help people find family members. We went to my mother’s former home hoping to find out news about her family. My mother knocked on the door and said, ‘Momma, I’m here’. The gardener who was now living in the house opened the door. Jews returning from the camps and ghettos found their homes being occupied by gentile neighbors. The gardener said to my mother, ‘What are you doing alive? Don’t you know that your family is dead’. My mother fainted after hearing the news. That is how she found out about her family’s fate. As we were about to leave the house my mother noticed a familiar item that was being used as a doorstop. It was my grandfather’s kiddish cup. My mother asked the gardener if she could have the cup and he replied, ‘Take it and go’. The kiddish cup along with my grandmother’s candlestick that my aunt in Israel gave me are the only two mementos I have from my family in Europe. They are very precious to me and I use them for special occasions and Jewish holidays.”
Rosenkranz reflected on life after the war.
“My family and I lived in a DP camp set up by allied forces in Backnang, Germany. The camp was located in the US occupation zone. While we waited for visas to move to America, I attended Hebrew school established by HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). After three years in the DP camp, my parents and I sailed for America aboard a US Navy ship. It took 10 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Our turbulent voyage included accommodations in the ship’s steerage where we slept in hammocks and ate in a mess hall. On March 22nd, 1949, my parents and I arrived in New York and started our new life. All adult refugees were given $10 each upon arrival. We moved in with one of my father’s brothers in the Bronx but soon looked for other accommodations because my mother and her sister-in-law couldn’t see eye-to-eye. We ended up renting a widow’s second bedroom. My father spoke five languages and had an operatic voice but couldn’t find work. The job market was a challenge because servicemen were returning from overseas at the same time and my father had to compete for employment. He found work in a bakery carrying 100 pound bags of flour.”
Rosenkranz recalled starting school.
“School was difficult because the other children in my kindergarten class made fun of me for looking and speaking differently and no one would go near me. In first grade an incident occurred that affected me profoundly. The teacher asked me to answer a question and the entire class laughed at me. I decided from that moment forward that I would never raise my hand or speak in class ever again. I graduated as an educator from Hunter College and thought, ‘How can I be a teacher if I can’t speak in class?’ I met my husband, Alan Rosenkranz, in my last year of college and we were married in 1965. I became a mother within a year of my graduation and I never became a teacher.”
Rosenkranz shared her involvement in Holocaust education.
“In 1987, when the newly created March of the Living was preparing for its inaugural tour the following spring, my husband encouraged me to use my Holocaust experience and educational skills and get involved in the program. I approached the organizers and became the March’s videographer. What I remember from that first trip was, feeling the presence of my murdered grandmother as I stood in the crematorium at notorious Auschwitz. My grandmother was among the 1 million Jews who died at the extermination camp along with her two young children. I heard my grandmother say, ‘Speak for me and my two babies. I no longer have a voice. You must be my voice’. I came back from that first March with a renewed sense of urgency to teach teens not to hate. The rabbi in the local synagogue asked me to address 500 students in the Hebrew school. I have been on 19 Marches since the first one in 1988. On one of the early Marches I visited Tykocin, Poland. Although no Jews live in Tykocin today, the synagogue remains. Built in 1642, the synagogue was desecrated and then set up as a warehouse during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The synagogue was thoroughly restored in the late 1970s. The historic wall paintings, most of which are decorative texts of Hebrew prayers, were restored. During my first visit to Tykocin I also discovered the Jewish cemetery (one of the oldest in Poland). I spoke to the school’s principal and asked him to allow me to take the initiative and create an essay contest focused on Tykocin’s Jewish history. It was amazing how little the students knew about European Jewish history, so I created a Jewish library in the town. In 2010, I had the only bat mitzvah ever held in Tykocin. It was memorable because my father was still alive at the time and sang the blessing before I read my Torah portion. He passed away shortly afterwards. I’m proud to say the town’s only bat mitzvah was mine. In the early 1990s I was the national coordinator for the March of the Living in New York. At the time my daughter, Michelle, was studying with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel at Boston University. I called up Professor Wiesel, told him I was Michelle’s mother and invited him on the March. Wiesel accepted the invitation and accompanied the March participants to Auschwitz. 1,500 people lined up at the infamous gate of the concentration camp beneath the sign reading ‘Arbeit macht frei’, a German phrase translated as ‘Work sets you free’. Wiesel noticed my daughter who he did not know would be on the trip and went up to hug her as photographers from around the world captured the moment. After marching to the crematorium at Birkenau, Wiesel faced the crowd to speak. ‘Last time I was here was with my mother and sister who I never saw again’. Wiesel couldn’t utter another word because he was so choked up.”
Rosenkranz shared her most recent project.
“My nephew, Dodd Loomis, a playwright, director, producer and Visiting Assistant Professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, recently created an immersive theater production titled ‘Only Miracles’. My family’s remarkable story served as an inspiration for Dodd’s project. ‘Only Miracles’ has been presented at the historic Touro Synagogue and I have participated in the project by speaking at several schools. ‘Only Miracles’ is a three-part immersive event. The first part is a theatrical experience rooted in the principles of documentary theater. Two interviews with my parents conducted in 1995 by the Shoah Visual History Foundation serve as the dominant source material. Audience members wear headphones in which a voiceover, along with actors, guides them through vignettes. The second portion of the show is a Digital Museum experience accompanied by live music. The production concludes as the audience enters The Reflection Room. My mother always said, ‘It was only by a miracle that we survived’. Dodd based the title ‘Only Miracles’ on my mother’s words. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful family. Alan and I were married for 47 years before he passed away in 2012. My daughter, Michelle, is an attorney and past president of the Florida Bar. My son, Howard, is a property manager. I have five grandchildren, including Talia, a New York based actress.”
Rosenkranz shared her words of wisdom.
“Nothing is more important than education. What we teach our children today will translate to tomorrow’s world.”
