The son of Holocaust Survivors speaks at Ahavas Sholom Sisterhood Meeting

By Laura Eisener

Last Thursday, Bill Rosenberg was the guest speaker at the Sisterhood meeting of Ahavas Sholom of Saugus. Ahavas Sholom celebrates 100 years in Saugus this year. Bill Rosenberg shared the story of his parents’ experiences before, during and after World War II. His father, Sigmund Rosenberg, lived in Austria during the 1930s and owned a home and haberdashery business there in the late 1930s. He loved to ski and also taught skiing, and very much enjoyed music and art. When the German army took over Austria on March 12, 1938, life became very difficult for the Jewish Community, which included Sigmund and his brother Siegfried. He was imprisoned by the Nazis in a concentration camp but was released, at which point he immigrated to Great Britain, leaving his home and many possessions behind.

When attending a dance there in 1939, he met a young woman who worked as a domestic named Edith Biber, and it was love at first sight. They married in 1940. As World War II went on, many Jewish individuals and families sought to escape the increasing number of occupied countries, and there were fewer places throughout the world that were willing or able to accept them. The president of the Dominican Republic from 1930-1938 and then again from 1942-1952, was Rafael Trujillo, and he announced that he was prepared to accept settlement and give land to up to 100,000 Jewish refugees. Many settled in Sosúa, and a few have descendants still living in the area, but a large proportion of the people later moved to the U.S. At one point the Dominican Republic was one of the few countries willing to accept Jewish refugees. The town of Sosúa, on land that had been an abandoned banana plantation, was founded by Jewish refugees from Germany and other occupied countries. Sigmund and his bride Edith settled there.

When Edith found herself expecting their first child, she was determined to bear her child in the U.S. and went there alone after managing to secure a visa and bore her first child there. This child was Bill, the speaker at the meeting. Eventually her husband was able to join her, and more babies joined the family and they remained here the rest of their lives. Bill and his wife currently live a few towns away from Saugus, and he has spoken about his family’s history at several events as we observe the 80th anniversary of World War II.

Refreshments at the meeting were the fruits of the season — strawberries of course! A variety of treats featuring strawberries, including strawberry shortcake, strawberry cream cake, strawberry ice cream and strawberry lemonade, were enjoyed by all.