IF YOU HEARD WHAT JENNIFER HEARD

JENNIFER SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER, SALLY ROFÉ, WHO WAS BORN IN 1917 IN KALISZ, POLAND. SHE WAS THE YOUNGEST OF EIGHT SIBLINGS, WITH FOUR OLDER SISTERS AND THREE OLDER BROTHERS. WHEN GERMANY INVADED POLAND IN 1939, HER SIBLINGS WERE SCATTERED ACROSS EUROPE WHILE SALLY REMAINED WITH HER PARENTS IN KALISZ. AFTER BEING FORCED INTO MULTIPLE GHETTOS THROUGHOUT POLAND, SALLY WAS DEPORTED TO AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU IN 1944, AND LATER TO THE STUTTHOF CONCENTRATION CAMP IN NORTHERN POLAND. SHE SURVIVED COUNTLESS NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES, ENDURING A YEAR IN STUTTHOF BEFORE BEING SENT ON A DEATH MARCH. SHE WAS EVENTUALLY PUT ON A SHIP THAT WAS BOMBED BY THE BRITISH, AND AS SHE WAS DROWNING, SHE WAS PULLED TO SAFETY BY A SOLDIER.

AFTER LIBERATION, SALLY WAS SENT TO A DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP CALLED FELDAFING, WHERE SHE MIRACULOUSLY REUNITED WITH HER BROTHER HARRY. THERE SHE MET MAYER ROFÉ, WHO WAS ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR. THEY MARRIED THREE MONTHS LATER AND HAD THEIR FIRST SON IN MUNICH. SALLY AND MAYER EVENTUALLY IMMIGRATED TO CALIFORNIA TO JOIN HER SISTER. SALLY ATTENDED NIGHT SCHOOL TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE. THEY BUILT A BEAUTIFUL, RICH LIFE IN LOS ANGELES, WITH A STRONG, LOVING COMMUNITY, AND A FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW AND THRIVE TODAY.

IF YOU HEARD WHAT JEN HEARD, YOU WOULD NEVER FORGET.