Holocaust survivor Evelyn Grapek recalls her family’s escape from Berlin

Evelyn Grapek was among 100 Holocaust survivors who joined together to celebrate Holocaust Survivor Day during a luncheon in Boynton Beach. The event was hosted by Ferd & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service and took place at Temple Shaarei Shalom. Following the luncheon, Evelyn invited me to her home where she shared her story of survival.

“I was born June 11th, 1928 in Berlin, Germany. My father’s name was Jack Eisenberg and my mother was Lottie Róssler. I have a younger sister named Bea. 1933 was a very traumatic year in my early life. On January 30th, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. When he came to power, Hitler destroyed German democracy and created a dictatorship. My father, who was originally from Warsaw, Poland, was a successful men’s clothier in Berlin (Germany’s capital city). One store was located in the building where we lived and the other store was across the street. My mother worked with my father in his business and couldn’t take care of me. My parents hired the wife of one of their employees to be my nanny. She would take me to the park and the beach where I made friends with the other children I met on those outings. I was excited about the start of the upcoming school year where I anticipated joining my newfound friends. Anti-Jewish legislation in pre-war Nazi Germany derailed my plans. My mother told me, ‘You can’t go to public school. You’ll have to attend a Jewish school’. I also fondly remember spending Sunday afternoons at a fashionable pastry shop where I drank hot chocolate while my parents enjoyed coffee and pastries. Discrimination against Jewish people soon prohibited that activity. Being inquisitive like any normal five year old child, I asked my parents why we couldn’t go to public places. They responded, ‘Don’t ask questions. That’s the way things are’. When I started attending the Jewish school, I had my first encounter with uniformed members of the Hitler Youth. While waiting for an employee of my father’s to accompany me home, the German teens called me names and threw stones at me. I had blonde hair and didn’t look Jewish. The fact that I had Aryan features probably annoyed them even more. I recall an incident that occurred in my father’s store that still gives me nightmares. While my father was out purchasing merchandise, two uniformed Nazi soldiers came into the store and began helping themselves to clothing. My mother told them, ‘You can’t take these clothes. You have to pay for them. One of the soldiers responded, ‘We can take whatever we want’ and proceeded to strike my mother, knocking her to the ground. My mother, who was bruised from the altercation, was helped up by one of her employees. I remember feeling helpless and frozen as I stood at the top of the stairs. We also witnessed the Nazis dragging our neighbors from their home and taking them away. In September 1935 the Nuremberg Laws were enacted in Nazi Germany and had a crippling economic and social impact on the Jewish community. My parents were forced to discharge my nanny because Jews were no longer permitted to employ non-Jewish servants. My father had the fortitude to envision we would soon have to leave Germany. I accompanied my mother on a trip to The Hague in Holland where an ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ helped us deposit money in accounts that we smuggled out of Germany. In 1936, my father said, ‘It’s time to leave’. All of my parent’s family that remained in Germany were later herded into ghettos and then deported to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers.”

Grapek recalled fleeing Berlin.

“One day my mother said, ‘You are going to spend a few days vacationing with your aunt and uncle’. After spending a few days there, my aunt said, ‘We are going to the beach, but you must wait here for your parents. I was frightened of being alone and hid under the dining room table. My parents came for me and we took a train to Czechoslovakia. After arriving in Prague, my parents placed me in a home for children. It was the worst experience of my life. All of the children were scared and crying. I thought my parents abandoned me in this horrible place. I later understood that they spent months going door to door trying to obtain visas for us to leave Europe. One day my parents came to pick me up and said, ‘We are going to a wonderful place called America where the streets are paved with gold’. I didn’t realize it was just a figure of speech and I remember looking for gold in the streets after we arrived.”

Grapek reflected on her family’s move to America.

“My parents and I traveled to the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and boarded a ship bound for America. After arriving in New York in 1937, we spent a few days with my father’s distant relatives in the Bronx and then moved into our own apartment shortly afterwards. After settling into our new life in the Bronx, my father eventually opened a second hand clothing store on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. It was one of the original discount clothing stores.”

Grapek recalled starting school.

“My mother always told me that it’s important to get a good education. She enrolled me in PS 28 in the Bronx even though I couldn’t speak English. The principal spoke some Yiddish so my mother was able to communicate with him. Although I was the same age as the third grade class, I was placed in the kindergarten class because the teacher spoke German. The other children laughed at me because I was older and looked different than most American children. The teacher told me, ‘You are in America and I’m going to help you speak like everyone else’. I was so grateful. My first educator in America inspired me to later become a teacher myself. I was so lonely and told my parents, ‘I wish I had a baby sister’. My sister, Bea, was born when I was 10. My mother died from cancer on my 18th birthday when she was only 43 years old. I became a guardian and second mother to my sister. That’s why Bea and I are so close. For years I wouldn’t share my Holocaust experience with Bea. I wanted to shelter her so she wouldn’t have the same nightmares I endured. I met my husband, Harvey, on the Long Beach boardwalk. He was a US Army veteran who served in Europe during World War II and received the Purple Heart after being wounded in action. Harvey was an attorney and former Long Beach councilman who was very active in civic affairs during the 1960s. We have three children, Michael, Howard and Lisa. After we bought our house in South Florida 30 years ago, Harvey suddenly passed away.”

Grapek shared her words of wisdom.

“Be grateful for what you have. My proudest moment was when I became an American citizen. I question people who take America and the freedom it represents for granted. I’ve been lucky, I’ve been blessed and I’ve survived. I don’t have numbers on my arm, but I do have memories.”