Rosa Bornstein born Gersonowicz

Born on November 20, 1930 in, Dańdówka, Poland.

My family was middle class and traditional, we kept kosher, went to the synagogue. From 1939–1942 we were in the ghetto. In 1942 my mother died, and my mother’s sister took care of us from then on. We were sent to Waldenburg concentration camp, after a while to another camp and finally to Bergen-Belsen. The three of us – me, my sister and my aunt, managed to stay together all that time. My sister and I would not have survived without my aunt. When Bergen­-Belsen was liberated I had tuberculosis and was sent to Sweden in the children transport in 1945. My aunt and my sister went to Israel as part of the illegal immigration. I stayed ill until medication against tuberculosis was invented in 1949.

When we came to Sweden we were put in camps. I was angry and felt bitterness. I wanted to forget the Holocaust. But when Israel was established my bitterness disappeared. I felt that there was hope, that there could be a new life. I still don’t know if it is better to remember or to forget.

My message to the young generation, including my grandchildren, is to be a Mensch – a good human being.