Rose Warfman
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Rose Warfman (nee Gluck) was a French survivor of Auschwitz and heroine of the French Resistance.
| Rose Warfman (nee Gluck) | |
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| Born | October 4, 1916 Zurich, Switzerland |
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| Nationality |  France |
| Occupation | nurse |
| Spouse | Dr. Nachman Warfman |
| Children | Bernard, Salomon David, Anne |
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Born in Zurich
Rose Gluck was born on October 4, 1916, in Zurich, Switzerland, the daughter of Paul (Pinhas) Gluck-Friedman (1886-1964) and Henia Shipper (1887-1968).
Her father was a direct descendant of Hasidic Masters, going back to the Magid Dov Ber of Mezeritch (1704-1772), the disciple and successor of the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760).
She had two sisters, Antoinette Feuerwerker born in 1912 in Antwerpen, Belgium and Hendel (Hedwig) Naftalis, born in 1913 in Zurich, as was also her brother Salomon Gluck in 1918.
[edit] Strasbourg
Her parents had moved from Tarnow in Galicia, Poland, to Belgium, then to Switzerland, during World War I. The family moved further to Germany, and finally to France in 1921, settling in Strasbourg. There she went to the famous Lycée des Pontonniers, now called Lycée International des Pontonniers.
[edit] Paris
After moving to Paris, with her family, she studied in 1941 and 1942 to become a nurse, in the modern Ecole de puériculture, 26, boulevard Brune, in Paris14. She worked before World War II at the COJASOR, a Jewish social service organization, together with Lucie Dreyfus (née Hadamard) (1869-1945), the widow of the famed Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
[edit] The Résistance
During World War II, she joined her sister, Antoinette Feuerwerker, and her husband, Rabbi David Feuerwerker, in Brive-la-Gaillarde. They worked together with Edmond Michelet, the future Senior Minister of Charles de Gaulle, in the major Movement of the French Resistance, Combat. In Michelet's Memoirs, she is mentioned as one of the active agents for Combat. Her name in the Résistance was Marie Rose Girardin.
[edit] Arrested in Brive
She was arrested in the Synagogue of Brive in March 1944, taken to Drancy internment camp, and from there, on convoy 72, on April 29, 1944, to Auschwitz concentration camp.
[edit] Taken to Drancy
Her sister Antoinette Feuerwerker succeeded to forward to her a nurse uniform in Drancy internment camp. She wore that uniform, arriving in Auschwitz.
Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor singled her for survival. Later, he operated on her, without anesthesia. She survived three selections in Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz-Birkenau), and later was transferred to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, before being liberated by the Russian Army in June 1945.
The number tatooed on her arm at Auschwitz is: 80598. Underneath there is a triangle, meaning she is a Jew.
[edit] Taken to Auschwitz
Convoy 72 took her to Auschwitz on April 29, 1944. Serge Klarsfeld described the convoy:
This convoy takes 1004 Jews, and includes 398 men and 606 women. Among them were 174 children below 18. The poet Itzak Katznelson (Itzhak Katzenelson) is among the deportees of this convoy, as well as many Poles, arrested as he was in Vittel, after having been transferred from Poland. There are families: the children Dodelzak, Ita 12, Georges 3 and Arkadius 3 months; the Rottenberg, Naphtalie 7, Nathan 5, Esther 4, Frantz 2,... On arrival at Auschwitz, 48 men were selectioned with the numbers 186596 to 186643 and 52 women, whose numbers are around 80600. In 1945, there were 37 survivors, including 25 women.
Her brother, Dr. Salomon Gluck was deported on the next convoy, convoy 73, leaving Drancy internment camp on May 15, 1944.
[edit] Departure from Drancy and encounter with Mengele
She describes as follows her departure from the Drancy internment camp and her arrival in Auschwitz:
One morning, one of the people in charge in Drancy came up in the rooms where we slept, and asked if there were amongst us physicians or nurses.
I told him that I was a nurse.
Then he wanted to know if I have a nurse uniform. Then, put your unifom. Be ready in an hour. There is a convoy which leaves Drancy for Auschwitz.
No sooner said than done. I put on my uniform that my sister Antoinette Feuerwerker had sent me. At the time, you needed to have a white blouse, over a white overhall and a veil on the head.
I joined the other internees and I was entrust the guard of the sick in the last cattle compartment with a score of stretched out sick, abducted from the Rothschild Hospital (today, Hôpital Rothschild, Groupement hospitalier universitaire Est, 33, boulevard de Picpus, Paris 12).
Arriving at Auschwitz, my compartment was the last opened, and I was directed toward a group situated on the left.
At that point, Dr. Mengele ( I didn't know who he was) came near me and asked me if I speak German?
I replied I do.
He asked me if there are still survivors in the compartment?
Following my negative answer, he continued the conversation with me.
How come do I speak German?
I replied to him: I was born in Zurich [ the German speaking part of Switzerland.
He then said: if so, what are you doing here?
I answered back: I wonder too.
He then told me, go place yourself in the column on the right. Do not stay in the column on the left.
At that point another supervisor said to Mengele: impossible, we have already 98.
Mengele replied, so there will be 99.
Mengele had more stripes than the other supervisor, and hence got the last word, and I remained in the column on the right.
At that point, I didn't know yet that my fate was decided, moving from left to right.
Only when I arrived in the camp did I learn that the column on the left had gone through the ovens (crematorium).
In the morning, I could see the smoke exiting from the 5 chimneys.
It was my first selection.
I went through 3 selections.
[edit] Gross-Rosen
The Gross-Rosen concentration camp was situated near Breslau (called today Wroclaw in Poland) railway station. She found that concentration camp worse than Auschwitz, even though there was no crematorium. There she had to work in a factory for ammunitions, from six in the evening to six in the morning. There was only one break: half an hour between midnight and twelve thirty. It was an assembly-line work. You couldn't stop or slow down, because the all assembly-line would stop or slow down. The blows rained down.
[edit] Passive Resistance
Even in concentration camp, she did passive resistance. In Birkenau, she was assigned to a group of 50 women who were knitting. A kapo made them knit undershirts for German newborns. She worked hard, and was given as a role model. Then winter came, they were asked to knit socks for men (Germans). Her vengeance was to make big knots inside to render them unuseable.
[edit] Simone Veil
In her block in Auschwitz was another detainee that she saw daily, and who would later become a celebrated politician in France and Europe, her name: Simone Veil.
[edit] Return to Paris: Exodus (ship), El Al
After the War, she returned to Paris. She became the one and sole employee of the new Israeli Airlines, El Al, when it opened in Paris, with a director, Mr. Massis. She welcomed and guided many Israeli leaders during their stays in Paris, including Golda Meir, and David Ben-Gurion. She was involved in the adventure of the Exodus (ship) (Exodus1947). Together with Abbé Alexandre Glasberg, recognized posthumously as a Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, for saving Jews during the war, she made the false identity cards for the passengers of the Exodus.
[edit] Honors
She was awarded the Legion of Honor (Légion d'honneur) by the French Government for her work in the Résistance. She also was awarded la Médaille Militaire 1939-1945, la Croix de guerre 1939-1945, and la Croix du Combattant Volontaire de la Résistance.
[edit] Personal life
She was married to Nachman Warfman a Doctor in Law (University of Grenoble) and a certified public accountant (CPA). She had three children: Bernard, Salomon David, and Anne. She moved to Manchester, England, to be close to her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren.
[edit] References
- Edmond Michelet. Rue de La Liberté. Dachau, 1943-1945. Seuil: Paris, 1955, 1983. [Lettre-Préface de Charles de Gaulle; aussi avec Préface pour l'édition allemande de Konrad Adenauer]. ISBN 2-02-003025-X
- Serge Klarsfeld.Le Mémorial de la Déportation des Juifs de France. Beate et Serge Klarsfeld: Paris, 1978.
- Elie Feuerwerker. A Nurse At Auschwitz. Lesson In Emunah. The Jewish Press, New York, May 3, 1996.
- Elie Feuerwerker. The Bench. Lesson In Emunah. The Jewish Press, New York, June 14, 1996.
- Elie Feuerwerker. A Supreme Act Of Love. Lesson In Emunah. The Jewish Press, New York, December 12, 1997.
- Elie Feuerwerker. France and the Nazis. Letter to the Editor. The New York Times, June 20, 2001.
- Hillel Feuerwerker.Salomon Gluck. In: Nous Sommes 900 Français. IV., edited by Eve Line Blum-Cherchevsky, Paris, Besancon, 2003. ISBN 2-9513703-4-2
- Elie Feuerwerker. The Blind Man And The Accordion. Lesson In Emunah. The Jewish Press, New York, October 11, 2006.
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Warfman, Rose |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gluck, Rose |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | survivor of Auschwitz, heroine of the French Resistance |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 4, 1916 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zurich, Switzerland |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
