Hadassah Rosensaft
Hadassah Rosensaft | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Hadassah Bimko August 26, 1912 Sosnowiec, Poland |
| Died | October 3, 1997 (aged 85) Manhattan, New York, US |
| Spouse | |
Hadassah Bimko Rosensaft, MD (August 26, 1912 – October 3, 1997) was a Polish-born Jewish Holocaust survivor.[1][2] She is credited with saving thousands of Holocaust victims.[3]
Biography
Rosensaft was born on August 26, 1912, in Sosnowiec, Poland. She studied dentistry at the University of Nancy, in France. Rosensaft graduated in 1935, with a degree in dental surgery. She soon returned to Sosnowiec, where she found employment as a dentist. On August 2-3, 1943, Rosensaft was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau together with approximately five thousand Jews from the ghetto of Sosnowiec. Her parents, husband, and five-and-a-half-year-old son were immediately sent to their deaths in the gas chambers.[4] Her life was saved in order to work as a doctor under Josef Mengele. In this capacity, Rosensaft saved many lives by smuggling medical materials to them, and doctoring and disguising their wounds.[5] She would arrange to have patients scheduled for "selection" not to be available.[6]
On November 14, 1944, Rosensaft was placed in charge of what would grow to be over 150 children at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. She cared for them until the camp was liberated by British forces on April 15, 1945[7]. Two days later, H.L. Glyn Hughes placed Rosensaft in charge of caring for all of the camp's wounded. After the war was over, in 1945, Rosensaft became a member of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews, and would later be elected its vice-chair. In 1946, she married Josef Rosensaft, chair of the Central Jewish Committee in the British Zone of Germany and of the Jewish Committee of Bergen Belsen. She headed the Health Department of these two organizations.[8] During the Belsen trial, she served as a key witness.[9] Rosensaft would help identify 15 of the defendants including Josef Kramer (known as the "Beast of Belsen").[10]
After eight years in Montreux, Josef and Hadassah Rosensaft moved to New York. She served as honorary president of the World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations, and later became a member of the Presidents Commission on the Holocaust in 1978.[11][12] Rosensaft was named to the council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1980 by Jimmy Carter.[10] She was also appointed chair of the Archives and Library Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.[11] In 1991 she conducted interviews with fifteen survivors--including Chana Birnbaum, Rachel Frankowitz, and Ester Greenberg-- about their childhood experiences for the United States Holocaust Museum Oral Histories.[13] In 1992, President of the United States George Bush, President of Israel Chaim Herzog, New York City Mayor David Dinkins, and Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek sent personal greetings to Hadassah Rosensaft on her eightieth birthday.[14] She died of liver failure on October 3, 1997, at Tisch Hospital in New York City.[12]
The Rosensafts' son Menachem, who was born in the Displaced Persons Camp adjacent to Bergen-Belsen, became a published poet, attorney, and Holocaust activist, serving as the vice president and general counsel for the World Jewish Congress. In 2022, Menachem Rosensaft accompanied Israel President Isaac Herzog in an official visit to Bergen-Belsen. Herzog recalled that his father, the sixth president of Israel, Chaim Herzog, was an officer in the British Army contigent that liberated Bergen-Belsen.[15]
References
- ↑ Ritvo, Roger A.; Plotkin, Diane M.; BEN-SEFER, ELLEN (January 2003). "Sisters in Sorrow: Voices of Care in the Holocaust". Nursing History Review. 11 (1): 209–210. doi:10.1891/1062-8061.11.1.209. ISSN 1062-8061.
- ↑ "Hadassah Rosensaft". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
- ↑ "Testimony by Hadassah Rosensaft". The EHRI Portal. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
- ↑ "Hadassah Rosensaft". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
- ↑ "Hadassah Rosensaft | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
- ↑ 84K views · 295 reactions | They called her the "mother of Belsen." During the Holocaust, faced with threats to her own life, Hadassah Bimko Rosensaft committed herself to saving Jewish lives in places that were designated for total extermination: The Nazi death camps. Hadassah, Anna, Luba, Gizi: Four heroines whose stories demonstrate the courage of the Jewish women rescuers during the Shoah. As more and more survivors and heroes of the Holocaust pass away, it is critical now more than ever to remember and share their stories. Post your 'We Remember' photo with the hashtag #WeRemember or send it by email to weremember@wjc.org | World Jewish Congress. Retrieved 2026-04-26 – via www.facebook.com.
- ↑ NationalArmyMuseumUK (2023-04-12). The Liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Retrieved 2026-04-26 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Dr. Hadassah Bimko/Rosensaft". www.bergenbelsen.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
- ↑ "Hadassah Rosensaft | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
- 1 2 "Hadassah Rosensaft; Holocaust Survivor Had Saved Many Inmates". Los Angeles Times. 1997-10-09. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
- 1 2 "Hadassah Rosensaft, Leader in Survivor Community, Dies". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1997-10-10. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
- 1 2 Pace, Eric (1997-10-08). "Hadassah Rosensaft, 85, Dies; Saved Auschwitz Inmates". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
- ↑ "Hadassah Rosensaft oral history collection". The EHRI Portal. 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
- ↑ Teltsch, Kathleen (1992-08-28). "CHRONICLE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
- ↑ "At Bergen-Belsen, an activist born in DP camp commemorates loss and life | The Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2022-09-08. Retrieved 2026-04-27.