LITMIR.BIZ

       From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust

      BERNAT ROSNER

       with Sally Patterson Tubach

      University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London

      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      University of California Press, Ltd.

      London, England

      © 2001 by

      The Regents of the University of California

      First paperback printing 2002

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Rosner, Bernat, 1932-

       An uncommon friendship : from opposite sides of the Holocaust / Bernat Rosner & Frederic C. Tubach, with Sally Patterson Tubach.

       p. cm.

       ISBN 0-520-23689-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

       1. Rosner, Bernat, 1932-2. Tubach, Frederic C. (Frederic Christian), 1930-3. Jewish children in the Holocaust— Hungary—Tab—Biography. 4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)—Hungary-Tab—Personal narratives. 5. Tab (Hungary) — Biography. 6. World War, 1939-1945 — Children—Germany—Biography. 7. World War, 1939-1945—Personal narratives, German. 8. Holocaust survivors—California—Biography. 9. Germany—Biography. 10. California— Biography. I. Title.

      DS135.H93 R67 2001

       943.9'7—dc21 00-053207

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

      TO OUR CHILDREN

       Michael Rosner

       Andrew Rosner

       Owen Rosner

       Karen Tubach

       Michael Tubach

       Contents

       Foreword

       Acknowledgments

       ONE

       The Return of the Past

       TWO

       Two European Villages

       THREE

       The Loss of Innocence

       FOUR

       The Maelstrom: To Auschwitz and Beyond

       FIVE

       Roads West

       SIX

       Careers: An American Story

       SEVEN

       Germany: Fifty Years Later

       Coda

       Notes

      ILLUSTRATIONS (following page 144)

       Fritz and his mother, Hedwig Tubach, 1932.

       Fritz and his father, mid-1950s.

       Fritz begins the first grade, 1936.

       Fritz in grammar school, 1937.

       Fritz's father in Wehrmacht uniform, 1941.

       Fritz, 13 years old, in Jungvolk uniform, 1943.

       Fritz's stepmother, Marie Tubach, 1943.

       Fritz's father in the German occupation of Guernsey, early 1945.

       Fritz, San Francisco City College, 1949.

       Bernie and Charles Merrill, August 1945.

       Bemie and Simcha at Selvino, September 1945.

       Bernie and friends at Selvino, September 1945.

       Group picture of Selvino orphanage.

       Bernie's official U.S. entry photograph, 1947.

       Bernie at prep school, St. Louis, 1948.

       Bernie as a U.S. Army officer candidate at Cornell, 1954.

       Bernie and Fritz revisit the Tab railway station, 1990.

       Ruins of the Tab synagogue steps, 1990.

       Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, 1997.

       Fritz and Bernie, Alpe di Suisi, Dolomites, 1999.

       Letter from Charles Merrill, Sr., on Bernies graduation from Cornell.

       Affidavit in lieu of birth certificate.

       Foreword

      Two European boys from small villages, one Jewish Hungarian and one German, grew up on opposite sides of the deadly divide constructed by Nazi Germany. One barely survived his imprisonment in several concentration camps, while the other attended meetings of the Jungvolk (Pre-Hitler Youth). The father of one was exterminated at Auschwitz, while the father of the other was a counterintelligence officer in the German army. After the war, both youths followed their luck and drive, each in his own way, to leave Europe and cross the Atlantic. The transformative power of the United States liberated them from their

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