Edith From Miami
On January 27th, the international community commemorated the 80th year of the liberation of Auschwitz; Holocaust Remembrance Day.
President Trump has declared January 27th as an official Day of Remembrance of the Liberation of Auschwitz.
Edith (Sora) Deutsch was 16 when she and her mother were taken to Auschwitz from Hungary. At the gate, Edith and her mother Rochel were separated; they never saw each other again.
In 2020, living in Miami, ninety-year-old Edith was invited to Poland to participate in the 75th commemoration of the Auschwitz liberation. Edith, though mostly reticent about sharing her story, decided to go. As a Floridian, she determined that all she would need was a down coat, elegant fur lined Uggs, and a few chunky sweaters. “Edith from Miami” was every inch a fancy lady and different from the last time, she would be arriving in style.
The family decided that Dr. Meredith, her granddaughter/our daughter, would escort her as her plus 1.
Edith walked through the Auschwitz gates dressed in finery that accommodated the freezing cold. Usually warm, gregarious and always ready to enjoy a nice meal, Edith granted no interviews, made no new friends and ate very little.
Edith attended the galas, accepted the swag, and stashed away an extra 6 yahrzeit candles, with little to no interest in listening to anyone else’s story. She was disgusted and nauseated by the very essence of Auschwitz and the role it had played in determining the course of her life.
Only after her return to Florida did we learn why she was so determined to go. “Mom, are you glad that you went?” her son, my husband, Bob asked. “You put yourself through so much hardship to go.”
“Yes, I am! When I was taken to Auschwitz, I was sent to the right and my mother sent to the left, I never had a chance to say goodbye.”
“Now that I have, I can die!”
January 27, 2025, marked the 80th commemoration of the liberation; Edith (Sora) Deutsc could no longer participate, she reunited with her beloved mother Rochel soon after her return to Miami.
Ever since the atrocities of October 7th, the comparisons between that day of horror and the inhumanity and destruction of the Holocaust proliferate. Additionally, there is renewed growing world wide systemic antisemitism that we wanted to believe had been eradicated with the end of the Nazis.
The full gamut of worldwide Jewry, from the secular to the observant to the Hasidic, have been shocked into attention; everyone still hates the Jews. From the classrooms to theaters, convention centers, main streets and even the United Nations, hate for Israel and the Jewish people prevails.
That Edith did not live to see the campus unrest, the volatility in major cities and capitals, and, particularly, the atrocities of October 7’is a blessing. That we, her children, have now been exposed to the virulent, millennia long hatred seems inevitable and ironic.
What separates our current situation from previous incarnations of Jew hatred is that the Jewish people now have our beloved homeland, Israel; she will push back with strength and power. The beautiful Sari Deutsch, our great granddaughter, named for Edith(Sora), is her living legacy. Thankfully, Jewish babies are born every minute of every day, and our legions will grow stronger and stronger.
October 7th, Never Again.