Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Rita Rosenzweig - March 24, 1983

Talking to Children About Experience

And now, with regard to your own children, you have two children?

Yeah. Mm-hm.

Um, did you talk about all of these war experiences with them as they grew up?

No, never. Well my daughter used to ask more question than my son. And she would say, "Well, I wish I had a bobe and a zeyde"and "I miss grandparents"even though these people I was hiding, you know, were like grandparents. They would for her birthday they send a little money and things, but she knew that, I mean, that they were not really hers. And, you know, she used to get up sometimes in the middle of the night crying, and uh, so I never really talked about it much except uh, I think when we really started opening up was when they had the first Holocaust movie. I think when the kids saw it, I think they finally kinda dawned on them what we went through. I don't think they never realized that uh, how much suffering there's been, and I think a lot of kids, I think, never realize, realize what their parents had been through until they saw the movie. And it--they kinda then, I think--then they really started asking questions, I think. When the movie was over my son called me to see if we were okay, you know, and I was crying, and I think now my daughter-in-law is asking a lot of questions. So now I think they're more aware. They know more what happened, you know, what uh, was going on, I think.


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