Reactions from a Viewer – Stitching History From the Holocaust

This is feedback from a person who saw the piece about the exhibit on PBS NewsHour Weekend:

I just watched a PBS video on Facebook about the Stitching History exhibit.

My great grandfather was fortunate to leave Germany in search of visas for the rest of the family. He and his brother landed in Bolivia, South America and were able to get only 6 visas that they sent back to Berlin right away. Those visas saved the lives of their mother, wife, children (1 each) and youngest nephew (who was 2 at the time).

As they worked tirelessly to sell the few jewels they took and buy/get more visas for the rest of the family (7 brothers total, all married and with children), Germany had taken a turn for the worst.

Long story short, my grandmother (4 at the time) left Berlin with the last group of Jews that could get out before taken by the Nazis. The other visas got there too late. Only 2 survived the camps What is very personal for me about your exhibit, is that my family owned a big tailor shop in Berlin. They specialized in the design and construction of coats and exported them to the US and France. When my great grandfather left Berlin, he took some money, a few jewels (they underestimated how hard it would be to get visas) and above all his sewing kit. When his wife and mother left with the kids in ’39, his brother Leo Rosendorn who was the designer, made some drawings of coats, my grandma has one in a napkin to see if that could help them. He also told them to take a needle so that they could start a life. They did and opened the tailor shop in La Paz – Bolivia. Our survivors told us that the brothers had packed a spool of thread and needles to board the trains thinking that they could use them when they got to the “labor camps”

The shop in La Paz eventually was sold and later closed after my great grandfather died, my grandma is a seamstress and still works today making beautiful clothes.

Thank you for your work, your passion and your example for generations to come. The Nazis will only achieve their goal if we forget our loss, because of people like you, we won’t. You bring our loved ones back to life.

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