Try to Remember—Never Forget: Memoirs of Holocaust Survivor Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax

By Sandra Scheller

Meet Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax.

She is standing next to the dress that my grandmother wore during the time she was in Oederan. She never took it off, and every week she would bend over and the Nazis would paint an X and stripe down her backside. The dress was initially given to her in Auschwitz.

Ruth Goldschmiedova Saxs life story begins in Moravia in 1928, where she lived comfortably as an only child with her parents. At the age of eleven, the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, and life changed for everyone. By 1941, the family found themselves getting off a transport train in Theresienstadt, where Ruth was forced to grow up quickly. She was shaved to prevent lice infestation, her feet were wrapped in paper to keep them warm in the winter, and she witnessed the deaths of many. Separated from her father, she survived awful circumstances, only to be sent to Auschwitz in 1944, where she faced Dr. Mengele half a dozen times. Finally, with G-ds help and liberation, she was reunited in 1945 with her mother and father, a miracle within itself. Ruth later immigrated to America, where she married Kurt Sax, whom she had met at age seven. This memoir narrates the dramatic life circumstances that led her from her birthplace in central Czechoslovakia to three concentration camps and finally to her home in America.

Future plans are to find a museum for this dress so that it can be displayed accordingly for all to see and to remind us to never forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532045110

Sandra Scheller

Sandra Schellers artistic life includes creating, repairing, designing costumes and clothing for film, theater, and the famous Martha Beckets Amargosa Opera House near Death Valley, CA. Her designing and sewing skills came from her mom along with flamenco costume designer Vera Ray in the United States. She assists Vilen Golovko of The Flying Cranes aerial ballet and trapeze for over 19 years, with acts in Cirque Du Soleil and Ringling Brothers Circus, China, Germany and Russia. Numerous CD music covers include Sandras photography including Los Romeros and Ninel Novikova. She worked 9 years at the Cirque De Soleil as a technician in wardrobe, coached and was head of the wardrobe for Cirque Du Monde, wrote and performed a solo show at the Amargoso Opera House entitled If These Walls Could Talk and was nominated as the Artist of the Year in the stage of Nevada 2010. She graduated from San Diego State University and received her teaching credentialing from UCLA. She won the Top Female Mime Award at the National Mime Festival n 1975 and 1976, performed numerous commercials as a mime, guest performed in Reading Rainbows and Sesame St. along with the dancing in Raynas Spanish Ballet. She is married, has raised 2 boys and now assists with the needs of her Mom, a job and responsibility that takes priority over everything. Sandra asked her mom is she was comfortable talking about her concentration camp experience, since it was not talked about as a child growing up in the Sax household. Her work in documenting her Mothers life story is noting short of miraculous because she was able to understand first hand about Ruths childhood while teaching us to NEVER FORGET. The book has received the IUNIVERSE editors choice award, the Gayle Mc Candliss Literacy Award 2017, Multicultural Motion Pictures Association 2017-2018 author/documentary award, Readers Favorite Five star award, recognition from President Barack Obama and the CIA, Honorable Minister of Culture and Education Ms. Kadis in Cyprus, in Cyprus School curriculum in Nicosia as well as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC. Please visit and like our Facebook page at Try To Remember Never Forget and website at www.trytorememberneverforget.com. There you will see updated videos and interviews.

Book preview

Try To Remember-

Never Forget

Memoirs of Holocaust Survivor Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax

Sandra Scheller

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Try To Remember- Never Forget

Memoirs of Holocaust Survivor Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax

Copyright © 2018 Sandra M. Scheller

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4512-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4906-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4511-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911923

iUniverse rev. date: 05/07/2018

Contents

Foreword

Testimony

Acknowledgments

Ruth’s Words

Not So Easy

Trying to Remember

September 1939

Chapter 1: Born

Chapter 2: Invasion

Chapter 3: A Crime to Be Jewish

Chapter 4: Theresienstadt

Chapter 5: Auschwitz

Chapter 6: The Artist

Chapter 7: Oskar’s Tattoo

Chapter 8: Gleiwitz

Chapter 9: Zamosc Ghetto

Chapter 10: Oederan

Chapter 11: Reborn

Chapter 12: Tribute to Walter Goldschmied

Chapter 13: Skeletons in the Closet

Chapter 14: Viktor Frankl

Chapter 15: Kurt Sax

Chapter 16: Not So Nice

Chapter 17: The American Dream

Chapter 18: Orange Belt Café and Oskar’s Market

Chapter 19: Living

Chapter 20: RIP Kurt

Chapter 21: Ruthie’s New Life Without Kurt

Chapter 22: Reincarnation

Chapter 23: Being Honored by So Many

Chapter 24: Hail to the Queen

Chapter 25: It’s Not Your Time

Chapter 26: Ruthie’s Temple

Chapter 27: Who Is Ruthie?

Epilogue

About the Author

IN MEMORY

T o the relatives who lost their lives shot in the street or in the camps needlessly, those who dug their own graves, and those who committed suicide, you will never ever be forgotten. To my grandparents—Siegfried, Sophie, Oskar, and Erna—and to my Dad, thanks for making me.

DEDICATED

T o my most-worshipped mother, Ruthie. I have found you to be not just my mom but also my best friend in the universe.

FOREWORD

Pepe Romero

W hen we think about the past, when knights had swords and fought real battles in which many people were killed and injured, the kind of knight I would strive to be is a version of Don Quixote. But instead of a sword, I actually have a guitar, and instead of shooting deadly artillery, I shoot beautiful sounds.

Try to Remember, Never Forget is written like a piece of music, documenting different moments of Ruth’s Holocaust experiences so that present and future generations can learn to never forget. It passes down the stories of what happened to a happy, beautiful little girl who within one day—March 14, 1939—had everything taken away from her except for a small suitcase. By the time she reached Auschwitz, that suitcase had been taken away too. She faced Dr. Mengele six times and then was transported to a camp where she made bullets and laid electrical cable in the snow. Not knowing she was on the verge of being liberated, she walked through no-man’s-land for two weeks. With G-d in her heart and faith in her soul, she did the impossible, reuniting with her father and mother to begin life all over again.

I am very privileged to have been a close friend of Ruth for many years and delight in her inner beauty. Her story offers a powerful message of hope and perseverance in the face of despair, encouraging us to live in peace and harmony with one another and bring joy and love to the world we live in.

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Pepe Romero, world-renowned classical and flamenco guitarist

TESTIMONY

Joseph Gonzalez

T ry to Remember, Never Forget describes the powerful and intense journey of Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax and her family finding hope and courage to survive in the midst of human cruelty and depravity. Although unsure of what each new day might bring, having been physically robbed of everything, Ruth prayed each night in thanksgiving for the meager blessings she possessed. With her mom by her side—a miracle in itself—she was able to beat the odds, become liberated, and join her father once again.

Sandra’s sharing of Ruth’s stories is a reminder to an ever-forgetting world that the Holocaust actually happened and that as citizens of the world we must act diligently to assure that this atrocity never happens again. As the composer of Steal a Pencil for Me, a compelling film documentary about two people and the power of love to prevail in the midst of the concentration camps, I find it a privilege to personally witness Ruth’s journey. Teaching this day and age about the value of each moment and each person, Ruth’s story is an incredible inspiration, and she is a role model for our day and age. My family and I join those who will spread the word to never forget.

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Joseph Gonzalez, composer

Photo by: David Maung

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T o my sweetest and most wonderful husband, Mark. When you married me, you got a whole bunch of craziness.

To my beloved children, Samuel and Maxwell. You are and always will be the soul of my existence. I hope you have come to realize what an incredible grandmother you have.

To my relatives Karel, Freda, Felix, and Pam Goldschmied (and families), and Vera and David Hartford (and families). We come from the same blood, and I love you with all my heart.

Thank you so much to Daniel Little (our amazing attorney), Ed Callan (my copyright attorney), and his wife, Shirley. David Reicks at Merrill Lynch in San Diego, California, I am so deeply grateful to you. Thank you to the New Life Club of San Diego for your continued gatherings of Holocaust survivors. To Frances Nassau, Max and Rose Schindler, also survivors, this world is a better place because of you, and we stand united to never forget. Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder and Family, David Shor, and Steven Spielberg, your support in holocaust awareness is so deeply appreciated. Never stop. Harriet Israel, I could not have found a better person to meet while visiting Theresienstadt.

Thank you, Chaplain Harry Bennett, Minnie Groel, and the wonderful folks at Paradise Village in National City, California. There are not enough words in the universe to describe how great you have been, not just to my mom but also to everyone. Dr. Eric Adler, thank you for keeping my mother alive.

Dana Scott, Robin Sawyer and Patrick Tieng from iUniverse, you have been my guiding light though this process, holding my hand each step of the way. Thank you so very much.

Thank you, Morgan Lopez, for keeping us safe. Gracias, Luz Medina, José and Sandra Sosa, for listening to me in English and Spanish over and over again.

Vilen Golovko, creator and founder of the Flying Cranes Aerial Trapeze, you have taught me how to fly