'I had an obligation to speak out': Remembering the life of Dora Eiger Zaidenweber
MPR News spoke with Dora and her daughter Rosanne Zaidenweber on Holocaust Remembrance day in 2006.
Julie Siple | MPR News 2006
Author, speaker and Holocaust survivor Dora Eiger Zaidenweber has died at the age of 99.
Dora was born in Radom, Poland. She and her family were forced into a ghetto there before she was sent to the Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. She was at Bergen Belsen when she was liberated by allied soldiers.
After moving to the United States in 1950, she earned a master’s degree in economics and dedicated her life to telling her story so others would not forget. As just one example, she testified earlier this year before lawmakers in support of a bill that now requires middle schools and high schools to teach about genocide.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Dora and her daughter Rosanne Zaidenweber on Holocaust Remembrance day in 2006.
Remembering the HolocaustUse the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: We want to stop for just a few minutes and remember the extraordinary life of one Minnesotan. Author, speaker, and Holocaust survivor Dora Eiger Zaidenweber has died at the age of 99. Dora was born in Radom, Poland. She and her family were forced into a ghetto there before she was sent to the Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
She was at Bergen-Belsen when she was liberated by Allied soldiers. After moving to the US in 1950, she earned a master's degree in economics and dedicated her life to telling her story so others would not forget.
Just one example, earlier this year, she testified before state lawmakers in support of a bill that now requires middle schools and high schools to teach about genocide. On Holocaust Remembrance Day back in 2006, I spoke with Dora and her daughter Rosanne, and Dora said telling her story to her children didn't really feel like a choice.
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: We just talked to them. We talked age appropriate. I have a number tattooed on my arm, so that was visible to them. They asked questions about it, and we just answered it as well as we could until they got older and we could talk about it more openly.
CATHY WURZER: Did you find it difficult?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: Not really because I sort of felt that having survived, I had an obligation to speak out to honor those and remember those who perished and who had no one to remember them and talk about them or mention them. I couldn't mention them by name either except for my own family, but it was a responsibility based on the fact that I was still here.
Now, having decided that, I couldn't exclude my own family from this. They had to know, too, besides which, most of their little friends had aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, and my children had a very limited, very small family. There was my brother and his family, so they had three little cousins. But other people had whole big families.
CATHY WURZER: And Rosanne, I guess some people never think about that, that Holocaust survivor families-- you are, many times, without grandparents and aunts and uncles. What was that like?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: It was very distinct. It was very different. We had a very small family. And even among Jews in the Twin Cities, that was unusual. As I grew up, I realized I had a much, much bigger family that I never knew, so it was very unusual.
CATHY WURZER: What questions did you ask your mom and dad?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: Well, my memory is that my first question was to my grandfather when I was very little. And he also had a number on his arm, and it was a much bigger number. It looked like someone had scrawled it on his arm. And so I asked him about that, and all he said was, bad people did that to me. But I think that probably opened the discussion with my parents as well.
My next memory of really learning my parents' story was when I was maybe seven or eight, my parents had a dinner party, and my brother and I were supposed to be in bed. But in fact, the conversation turned to my parents' history. And for about three hours, they just talked, and my brother and I listened. And that's really my first memory of having the big picture of what had happened to them.
CATHY WURZER: What kind of emotions went through you?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: Oh, it was overwhelming. I mean, even then as a seven or eight-year-old, I couldn't quite grasp that my parents had actually experienced all this horror in their lives and when they weren't very old. My mother was only 15 when the war started, so I could relate to that.
CATHY WURZER: Dora, are Holocaust survivor families different from other families because of your experiences?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: I don't think we can generalize. There are some who are. I didn't feel that we were. We had made a very concerted effort to adapt, to become normal, not to let all these experiences overpower us and rule our lives forever. We, I don't think, were a different family. I think we were pretty much like everybody, every American family.
CATHY WURZER: Rosanne, I'm curious. Survivors like your mom are in their 80s, and they're the last eyewitnesses to the murder of 6 million people. And once she passes, in a sense, you're the closest thing to a witness. How does that sit with you?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: I think I take that responsibility very seriously. And your question to my mother about, are survivor families different? I don't think they're different in the sense that they stand out, but I do think that children of survivors exist with a sense of responsibility from very, very young.
I mean, even the fact that we are named after people who perished in the war. I feel that I have always had that sense of legacy and of having a responsibility to carry on. And sometimes, that's a heavy responsibility.
I don't feel it heavy now. But as a kid, sometimes, it feels heavy. And I've spoken to other children of survivors who feel the same way. I mean, that's one of the things that I think we carry with us.
CATHY WURZER: And Dora, I was talking to a survivor who said, of course, you can forgive, but you can't forget. You would agree?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: Yes. You can't forget. You can't forgive, either, so maybe I don't quite agree with that. I have a very strong feeling forgiveness is linked with some kind of atonement. Now, some people may say, well, haven't the Germans atoned?
They have paid reparations to Israel. They've been supportive of Israel. They have admitted that they had done this, and there are all kinds of monuments in Germany.
That's not the atonement that I'm talking about. How are you going to atone for people who are dead whom you can't do anything to improve their lot? Atonement has to be personal, and it can't be done.
It's not a matter that I'm self-righteous about this. I'm not. I don't go around day after day or even once a month hating Germans. I never did. Because to me, it is all one on one. Forgiveness is a much bigger problem.
I'm amazed when I hear somebody's child has been murdered, and the parents say, I forgive the murderer. I can't understand this. I cannot understand how you can forgive for a horrible deed.
The only thing I can think of is that it makes them feel good because they are good people. They are willing to forgive. I'm not.
CATHY WURZER: Dora Eiger Zaidenweber and her daughter Rosanne Zaidenweber on Holocaust Remembrance Day back in 2006. Dora died last week at the age of 99. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
She was at Bergen-Belsen when she was liberated by Allied soldiers. After moving to the US in 1950, she earned a master's degree in economics and dedicated her life to telling her story so others would not forget.
Just one example, earlier this year, she testified before state lawmakers in support of a bill that now requires middle schools and high schools to teach about genocide. On Holocaust Remembrance Day back in 2006, I spoke with Dora and her daughter Rosanne, and Dora said telling her story to her children didn't really feel like a choice.
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: We just talked to them. We talked age appropriate. I have a number tattooed on my arm, so that was visible to them. They asked questions about it, and we just answered it as well as we could until they got older and we could talk about it more openly.
CATHY WURZER: Did you find it difficult?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: Not really because I sort of felt that having survived, I had an obligation to speak out to honor those and remember those who perished and who had no one to remember them and talk about them or mention them. I couldn't mention them by name either except for my own family, but it was a responsibility based on the fact that I was still here.
Now, having decided that, I couldn't exclude my own family from this. They had to know, too, besides which, most of their little friends had aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, and my children had a very limited, very small family. There was my brother and his family, so they had three little cousins. But other people had whole big families.
CATHY WURZER: And Rosanne, I guess some people never think about that, that Holocaust survivor families-- you are, many times, without grandparents and aunts and uncles. What was that like?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: It was very distinct. It was very different. We had a very small family. And even among Jews in the Twin Cities, that was unusual. As I grew up, I realized I had a much, much bigger family that I never knew, so it was very unusual.
CATHY WURZER: What questions did you ask your mom and dad?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: Well, my memory is that my first question was to my grandfather when I was very little. And he also had a number on his arm, and it was a much bigger number. It looked like someone had scrawled it on his arm. And so I asked him about that, and all he said was, bad people did that to me. But I think that probably opened the discussion with my parents as well.
My next memory of really learning my parents' story was when I was maybe seven or eight, my parents had a dinner party, and my brother and I were supposed to be in bed. But in fact, the conversation turned to my parents' history. And for about three hours, they just talked, and my brother and I listened. And that's really my first memory of having the big picture of what had happened to them.
CATHY WURZER: What kind of emotions went through you?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: Oh, it was overwhelming. I mean, even then as a seven or eight-year-old, I couldn't quite grasp that my parents had actually experienced all this horror in their lives and when they weren't very old. My mother was only 15 when the war started, so I could relate to that.
CATHY WURZER: Dora, are Holocaust survivor families different from other families because of your experiences?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: I don't think we can generalize. There are some who are. I didn't feel that we were. We had made a very concerted effort to adapt, to become normal, not to let all these experiences overpower us and rule our lives forever. We, I don't think, were a different family. I think we were pretty much like everybody, every American family.
CATHY WURZER: Rosanne, I'm curious. Survivors like your mom are in their 80s, and they're the last eyewitnesses to the murder of 6 million people. And once she passes, in a sense, you're the closest thing to a witness. How does that sit with you?
ROSANNE ZAIDENWEBER: I think I take that responsibility very seriously. And your question to my mother about, are survivor families different? I don't think they're different in the sense that they stand out, but I do think that children of survivors exist with a sense of responsibility from very, very young.
I mean, even the fact that we are named after people who perished in the war. I feel that I have always had that sense of legacy and of having a responsibility to carry on. And sometimes, that's a heavy responsibility.
I don't feel it heavy now. But as a kid, sometimes, it feels heavy. And I've spoken to other children of survivors who feel the same way. I mean, that's one of the things that I think we carry with us.
CATHY WURZER: And Dora, I was talking to a survivor who said, of course, you can forgive, but you can't forget. You would agree?
DORA EIGER ZAIDENWEBER: Yes. You can't forget. You can't forgive, either, so maybe I don't quite agree with that. I have a very strong feeling forgiveness is linked with some kind of atonement. Now, some people may say, well, haven't the Germans atoned?
They have paid reparations to Israel. They've been supportive of Israel. They have admitted that they had done this, and there are all kinds of monuments in Germany.
That's not the atonement that I'm talking about. How are you going to atone for people who are dead whom you can't do anything to improve their lot? Atonement has to be personal, and it can't be done.
It's not a matter that I'm self-righteous about this. I'm not. I don't go around day after day or even once a month hating Germans. I never did. Because to me, it is all one on one. Forgiveness is a much bigger problem.
I'm amazed when I hear somebody's child has been murdered, and the parents say, I forgive the murderer. I can't understand this. I cannot understand how you can forgive for a horrible deed.
The only thing I can think of is that it makes them feel good because they are good people. They are willing to forgive. I'm not.
CATHY WURZER: Dora Eiger Zaidenweber and her daughter Rosanne Zaidenweber on Holocaust Remembrance Day back in 2006. Dora died last week at the age of 99. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
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