3rd Place Janis Sattler Fried
A Holocaust survivor, Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler, is a mother who always approaches life in a hopeful, upbeat manner. Here’s what her daughter, Janis Sattler Fried of West Bloomfield, says about her:
Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler with her daughter Janis Sattler Fried
“My mother, born in Czechoslovakia, had what would now be considered an upscale life. That is, of course, until the Holocaust. My mother is an insightful person with Hungarian instincts. She is a woman who never finds salt in an experience but always frames it, verbally, in a hopeful and positively reassuring manner.
“My mother’s work in Ravensbruck [a women’s concentration camp in Germany] was to take off buttons, hems and bottoms of shoes in order to find money, coins, jewelry, etc. for the Germans. She found all of those, but also her own father’s coat, which verified that when he had gone to the ‘right’ after their three days’ journey to the camps in a cattle car, he had been gassed and burned. She did not tell her sister and mother.
“She did tell them, as they walked the death march, that they would be free in May, in time for their birthdays. She was right, they were freed; it was then that she burdened them with the sadness of her father’s death.
“She did her sister’s and mother’s ‘work’ in the camps when they were too weak. She begged an officer for a charred potato when her sister was very ill. She went off to find a farmer to get a chicken and vegetables to make chicken soup when they were liberated and housed in a school. Alone, after placing her mother and sister in a hospital, she went to Prague to find her brother. She got up at 5 a.m., took a train and walked to all of the Red Cross facilities, until she heard his voice and was able to reunite her family.
“She married an American, the only one in her family who did. He moved her from Los Angeles to Detroit. She raised a family with no family support that so many of us are grateful to have had. She saw little of her mother, sister, brother and two cousins who had survived and resided now in Los Angeles.
“When I divorced, she was by my side. When, as a single mother, my daughter went through two nine-hour surgeries with a difficult recovery, she went with me. She left her life in Michigan for 15 days in July of 2002 and again from November to December 2002. First to go to California, and then to New York, where we were all alone. She gave my daughter a kiss and put her hand on her face, and said simply, ‘See you in a while. It will all be OK.’ My daughter, who had voiced the worry that during the second surgery she would flatline on the table, made it like a trouper.
“My mother is older now, but still drives, plays mahj, pan and bridge. She bakes and, although widowed, still smiles and takes any bitter story and makes you feel safe after her responses. Even when she was sick this winter, she said reassuringly, ‘I’ll get better.’
“Every time there are events, she bakes and brings over her famous (ask her friends) Hungarian strudel, cheesecake or lemon cake. My friends adore her and the Holocaust Memorial Center asks for her to be a speaker.
“My mother is my strength when life is hard and unfair. When my children are in need, she comes to my aide. My daughter is in pain, always, and the emergency visits were almost monthly at one point. Who was there with me? My mother. She is a mother, a friend and a positive speaker, all in one!”
Kathy Sattler of West Bloomfield epitomizes the essence of Mother’s Day, says Dr. Charles Silow, director of the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families, a service of Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit.
“What’s amazing about her history is that she was with her mother and sister from the ghetto, to Auschwitz, a death march, Ravensbruck and Neustadt concentration camps,” he said. “Kathy made it her mission to keep her mother alive throughout. What a Mother’s Day story!”
In an interview for Silow’s program, Portraits of Honor, Sattler was asked: What do you think helped you to survive the Holocaust?
“If I was by myself I would not have survived,” she answered. “But I had to make sure my mom and my sister survived. I did everything in my power to keep them alive. It was very hard.”
A Holocaust survivor, Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler, is a mother who always approaches life in a hopeful, upbeat manner. Here’s what her daughter, Janis Sattler Fried of West Bloomfield, says about her:
Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler with her daughter Janis Sattler Fried
“My mother, born in Czechoslovakia, had what would now be considered an upscale life. That is, of course, until the Holocaust. My mother is an insightful person with Hungarian instincts. She is a woman who never finds salt in an experience but always frames it, verbally, in a hopeful and positively reassuring manner.
“My mother’s work in Ravensbruck [a women’s concentration camp in Germany] was to take off buttons, hems and bottoms of shoes in order to find money, coins, jewelry, etc. for the Germans. She found all of those, but also her own father’s coat, which verified that when he had gone to the ‘right’ after their three days’ journey to the camps in a cattle car, he had been gassed and burned. She did not tell her sister and mother.
“She did tell them, as they walked the death march, that they would be free in May, in time for their birthdays. She was right, they were freed; it was then that she burdened them with the sadness of her father’s death.
“She did her sister’s and mother’s ‘work’ in the camps when they were too weak. She begged an officer for a charred potato when her sister was very ill. She went off to find a farmer to get a chicken and vegetables to make chicken soup when they were liberated and housed in a school. Alone, after placing her mother and sister in a hospital, she went to Prague to find her brother. She got up at 5 a.m., took a train and walked to all of the Red Cross facilities, until she heard his voice and was able to reunite her family.
“She married an American, the only one in her family who did. He moved her from Los Angeles to Detroit. She raised a family with no family support that so many of us are grateful to have had. She saw little of her mother, sister, brother and two cousins who had survived and resided now in Los Angeles.
“When I divorced, she was by my side. When, as a single mother, my daughter went through two nine-hour surgeries with a difficult recovery, she went with me. She left her life in Michigan for 15 days in July of 2002 and again from November to December 2002. First to go to California, and then to New York, where we were all alone. She gave my daughter a kiss and put her hand on her face, and said simply, ‘See you in a while. It will all be OK.’ My daughter, who had voiced the worry that during the second surgery she would flatline on the table, made it like a trouper.
“My mother is older now, but still drives, plays mahj, pan and bridge. She bakes and, although widowed, still smiles and takes any bitter story and makes you feel safe after her responses. Even when she was sick this winter, she said reassuringly, ‘I’ll get better.’
“Every time there are events, she bakes and brings over her famous (ask her friends) Hungarian strudel, cheesecake or lemon cake. My friends adore her and the Holocaust Memorial Center asks for her to be a speaker.
“My mother is my strength when life is hard and unfair. When my children are in need, she comes to my aide. My daughter is in pain, always, and the emergency visits were almost monthly at one point. Who was there with me? My mother. She is a mother, a friend and a positive speaker, all in one!”
Kathy Sattler of West Bloomfield epitomizes the essence of Mother’s Day, says Dr. Charles Silow, director of the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families, a service of Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit.
“What’s amazing about her history is that she was with her mother and sister from the ghetto, to Auschwitz, a death march, Ravensbruck and Neustadt concentration camps,” he said. “Kathy made it her mission to keep her mother alive throughout. What a Mother’s Day story!”
In an interview for Silow’s program, Portraits of Honor, Sattler was asked: What do you think helped you to survive the Holocaust?
“If I was by myself I would not have survived,” she answered. “But I had to make sure my mom and my sister survived. I did everything in my power to keep them alive. It was very hard.”