IF YOU HEARD WHAT JONATHAN HEARD

JONATHAN SHARES THE STORY OF HIS GRANDMOTHER ROSE KASIRER, WHO WAS FROM A LARGE, LOVING, OBSERVANT JEWISH FAMILY IN BISTRA, ROMANIA. WHEN THE HUNGARIANS TOOK OVER THEIR TOWN IN 1940, WHEN THEIR COMFORTABLE LIVES BECAME MORE RESTRICTIVE. ROSE WAS ONLY 12 YEARS OLD. PASSOVER, 1944, THE NAZIS TOOK OVER HER TOWN, AND ROSE AND HER FAMILY WERE FORCED ONTO A CATTLE CAR AND TAKEN TO A GHETTO, AND THEN TAKEN TO AUSCHWITZ. ROSE WAS THEN SEPARATED FROM HER FAMILY. ROSE SURVIVED UNIMAGINABLE AND INHUMANE CIRCUMSTANCES THROUGHOUT HER TIME IN FORCED LABOR IN THREE CAMPS INCLUDING AUSCHWITZ AND RAVENSBRÜCK. IN 1945 SHE WAS LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIAN ARMY. ROSE RETURNED HOME TO TRY AND FIND OUT IF ANYONE SURVIVED FROM HER FAMILY. SHE REUNITED WITH HER BROTHER ANDRE, AND RECONNECTED WITH ONE OF ANDRE’S FRIENDS, JACOB., WHO WAS ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR. IT WAS NOT LONG AFTER THAT ROSE AND JACOB WERE MARRIED. TOGETHER THEY REBUILT THEIR LIVES, AND BUILT A STRONG, PROUD, JEWISH FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW AND THRIVE TODAY, UPHOLDING THE TRADITIONS AND VALUES THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO BOTH ROSE AND JACOB.

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

THIS INTERVIEW WAS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT OF ALLISON AND JONATHAN KASIRER, IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROSE KASIRER.