A Tribute to Her

This past Sunday marked the beginning of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. Several years ago, the same time this year, when I was in seventh grade, a teacher came to talk to my class about the Holocaust. Her name was Mrs. Rose Sharon. She was an average sized woman, had short brown hair, always wore a skirt, and you couldn't always see her eyes because of the glare from her glasses. She is Jewish, as is her parents. Both of her parents were survivors of the Holocaust. Her mother recently passed at the time. I will never forget the stories that she told us and I wanted to share them with world.

Mrs. Sharon's parents both had families before the Holocaust. They met through mutual friends and
married after the Holocaust. I wish I could tell you at what camps they were at and everything, but I forget the details because it was so long ago and I was just not old enough to understand the weight of everything she was telling us. I regretfully say, I do not even remember Mrs. Sharon's parents' names; I remembered them as Mrs. Sharon's parents. However, here is what I know:

After their individual camps were liberated by American troops, they lost everything. They lost their families, jobs, and homes. Each person needed to prove their occupation so that someone could help them get back on their feet. Mrs. Sharon's father was an artist, so he painted a picture for them. She brought in the exact painting he made. It was a lit menorah with a black background. He also depicted the horrors of the concentration camps in the background. Mrs. Sharon's mother was a seamstress, so she made a gorgeous wedding gown. I forgot how, but they both ended up in America and that's where they met.

Many, many years later, Mrs. Sharon was driving her mother somewhere and when they arrived at their destination, her mother wouldn't leave the car. She just cupped her hands as if she were holding a cup, and kept saying "water, water, water..." So naturally, Mrs. Sharon tried to hand her a bottle of water and all her mother could do was say "water.. for my children." It was then that Mrs. Sharon knew what was happening. Her mother had some sort of mental sickness and because of it, was brought back to a traumatizing moment in her past, the moment she lost her children.

One day Mrs. Sharon's mom simply left to get water for her children. They were all at the camp. When she got back with the cup of water, all of her children were gone. All of the children that were at the camp were just gone.

It's crazy how some people have to live with such memories. It's even crazier how some people deny that any of this happened.

It's stories like these that will forever remain in my memory.

-Jenny