Descendants of Remembrance: 3G Survivor Talk with Amanda Markowitz Wizenberg

Tonia Rosenblatt was born September 15, 1922, in Lodz, Poland, where Jews made up a third of the population. She lived with her parents, Luzer and Chaya Faiga, older brother, Froim, and older sister, Malka. She enjoyed a beautiful, happy childhood, which was quickly stolen from her simply because she was Jewish. At just 17 years old, Tonia’s life changed when German troops occupied her hometown of Lodz and created a ghetto, where 210,000 Jews, including Tonia and her family, were forced into a small, sealed area, with no medicine and little food, leading to her father to die of starvation. It was clear that with Hitler and Nazi occupation came the end of her childhood and the beginning of immeasurable loss.

From the Lodz Ghetto, Tonia was deported via kennel train to Auschwitz with her mother, unaware of what awaited them. They were brutally separated upon arrival, and Tonia's mother was immediately murdered. Throughout her experience during the Holocaust, Tonia was enslaved in four different concentration camps, all with horrendous conditions and daily violence. She befriended several other young women in the camps, and their friendship and plans for the future gave them hope to survive. They were finally liberated at Bergen Belsen by the British, staying at the DP Camp set up there. After being liberated by the Americans, one of the girl’s brother, Nathan, arrived looking for his sister. Tonia and Nathan fell in love and got married.

Tonia and Nathan lived in Germany waiting to immigrate, eventually settling in Los Angeles. There, they rebuilt the lives they lost, having two children and six granddaughters. In spite of losing her parents, family members, and friends, Tonia went on to live a beautiful life like the one she came from.

Amanda Markowitz Wizenberg is a 3G@HMLA Board Member and the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, including her grandmother, Tonia Rosenblatt. She and her husband, also a grandchild of four survivors, are committed to stewarding their families' stories for their daughters and future generations. She will be sharing the story of her grandmother's miraculous survival and resilience.

No RSVP necessary, but space is limited