By Jeffrey Catalano
Assistant Editor
On Sunday, December 14, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., come to the Cincinnati Museum Center and join a gallery talk with Holocaust survivor, Monique Rothschild. This special event, hosted by the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, promises to be an unforgettable occasion — a testament to human resilience, survival and strength.
In her talk, Rothschild will share the harrowing personal story of her family’s daring escape from Nazi-held Europe. She was born in 1940 to parents who had fled antisemitic Germany in 1933 and had met and fallen in love in Paris. Her parents, Ernest and Hilda, did what they could to protect themselves from the Nazis in the early years, but, in 1939, Ernest was sent away to one of the first half a dozen work camps for “enemy aliens.”
Monique was born while Ernest was still imprisoned, near the labor camp he was being held in Bellac, France. After a painful month-long separation from her husband, Hilda decided to make a life-threatening trip across the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain to save her life and the life of her young child. For the entirety of the dangerous trip, she carried the infant Monique in her arms.
She made the perilous journey to depart on a ship for which she already had tickets for passage. And, with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and a fateful travel delay of several weeks, Ernest was actually able to reunite with his wife and young child in Seville, Spain, escaping the labor camp he was imprisoned in.
Their reunion came just in time for them to board one of the last ships, the SS Navemar, taking refugees to the United States. They entered the US in 1941 mere months before America joined WWII. The Rothschilds later rebuilt their lives in Cincinnati, Ohio after narrowly escaping Nazi persecution and extermination.
In later years, the ship that helped secure the Rothschild’s salvation would be described as a “floating concentration camp.” The conditions aboard the SS Navemar were actually that bad. That unimaginable. Still, without this ship, the Rothschilds may have never made it out of Nazi-controlled Europe alive.
If you’re curious to hear a true story of survival from one of the darkest periods of human history, the “Gallery Talk with Holocaust Survivor Monique Rothschild” is perfect for you. And, with the Cincinnati Museum Center hosting the “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.,” exhibit through mid-April, hearing from someone who actually lived through this terrifying period of time could be a memorable experience.
