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Holocaust survivor shares harrowing escape from Auschwitz

A full audience was in attendance at UCSD Hillel Center Friday night where Rose Schindler spoke about her escape from Auschwitz.

SAN DIEGO — It was a full house at UCSD Hillel Center Friday night where Rose Schindler spoke about her escape from Auschwitz.

The students were shown a documentary that Rose's son, Ben, produced, telling the young audience about the horrors of the Nazi death camps, where six million Jews were murdered during World War II.

Rose and her family were from Czechoslovakia; and she told of the cattle cars, forced labor, electric fences, the gas chambers they encountered.  

"They would tell me,' If they put you in the gas chamber line, make sure nobody sees you; get out of the line,’ and that's what I did and then my sister did the same thing because we promised my father we'd stay together," she said. 

She and her husband said virtually nothing about the hell they'd gone through for 20 years. Finally their children convinced them it was important to tell the world.

Ben Schindler told the crowd, "It took a long time for them to recognize that their stories had value with other people and that value is greater than the pain it took for them to tell the story. Every time she'd cry. She'd cry. Real tears."  

Some in the audience felt the pain, too; fighting their emotions, while trying to express their appreciation for Rose sharing her story.

Rose had words of encouragement. "You can't imagine how horrible it was; okay. You lived on almost nothing but if you have a problem, never give up, okay? Thank you," she said.  

After the lecture, some students bought autographed copies of Rose’s  book, “Two Who Survived.”

WATCH RELATED: Never again: Canyon Crest Academy students remember the children lost in the Holocaust (Jan. 2023)

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