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The B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust will present The Jewish Rescuers Citation in honor of Alma Rose, leader of the women’s orchestra at Auschwitz concentration camp on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 18:00 local time in the assembly hall at Kibbutz Netzer Sereni, Israel.

Jennifer Roosma from Vancouver, Canada, a relative of Rose, along with 100-year-old Hilda Simcha (née Grinbaum), one of the last survivors of the orchestra and a resident of the kibbutz, will attend the ceremony. Scheduled speakers include Professor Gideon Greif, a historian specializing in the history of the Holocaust, specifically the history of Auschwitz and the camp’s Sonderkommando work units, and author of the bestseller “We cried with no tears.” Also scheduled to speak are Aryeh Barnea, chairman of the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust and Alan Schneider, director, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem.

Born Nov. 3, 1906 in Vienna to a musical family, Rose was a virtuoso violinist in her own merit. She was the daughter of Arnold Rose, one of the leading violinists in Europe and the niece of Jewish composer Gustav Mahler. In 1932 she founded the popular women’s orchestra “the Viennese Waltzing Girls” in Vienna.

Although she was wed twice in Catholic marriages, she and her family were still considered Jewish according to the Nazi racial law. At the end of 1938 the family moved to London and from there Rose traveled to Holland. In 1943 while escaping Holland, she was captured and transferred to Drancy internment camp in France. Her mother soon passed away and her brother escaped to Canada. On July 18, 1943 Rose was transferred to Auschwitz, where she was recognized as the famous violinist and appointed conductor of the women’s orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The orchestra was forced to play cheerful music during lashings and executions. After a short period of time, Rose and the members of the orchestra used their musical talent to save themselves from annihilation. She included non-professional musicians in the orchestra as well as those who played instruments that were not traditionally included in an orchestra ensemble. This impacted the professional quality of the orchestra but including them among the orchestra staff became a lifeline—the musicians in the orchestra were excused from hard labor and were sometimes granted larger portions of food. Because of this, the majority of the orchestra ensemble survived. Rose was murdered in Auschwitz on April 4, 1944 and in November the members of the orchestra were sent to Bergen-Belsen, where they were liberated six months later by British and Canadian forces.

Among the surviving members was Hilda Simcha (née Grinbaum). Born in 1923, Simcha was an only child to David and Suzana Grinbaum. At 15, her father was deported from Germany to Poland and her mother was incarcerated after a failed attempt to obtain false certificates of passage to Belgium for her and her daughter. Despite her mother’s pleading, Simcha refused to leave Germany in the Kindertransport rescue effort. In 1940, 17-year-old Simcha joined the Youth Zionist Training Group. On April 20, 1943, members of the group were arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in the last large transport from Berlin. Upon her arrival, Simcha joined the women’s orchestra as a violinist. After contracting an illness that prevented her from playing, Rose put her in charge of the sheet music and appointed Simcha as her personal assistant. Simcha survived and kept a file of the sheet music as well as Rose’s personal belongings.

The Jewish Rescuers Citation was established in 2011 in an effort to help correct the generally held misconception that Jews failed to come to the aid of fellow Jews during the Holocaust. To date, 624 heroes have been honored for their rescue activities in Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Holland, Italy, Morocco, Romania, Belgium, Ukraine, Latvia, Denmark, Algeria, Czech Republic and Austria. Ceremonies to present the citations have been held in Israel, France, Holland, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Greece and the United States.

B’nai B’rith has worked tirelessly to bring to light the phenomena of Jewish rescue and the inspiring stories of the hundreds of Jews who risked their lives to save their endangered brethren from deportation and murder. Many who could have attempted to flee or hide themselves chose to stay, in turn risking their own lives to rescue others; some paid for it with their lives. With great heroism, Jews in Germany and every country across Axis powers and occupied Europe employed subterfuge, forgery, smuggling, concealment and other methods to ensure that Jews survived the Holocaust or assisted them in escaping to a safe heaven. In doing so, they foiled the Nazi goal of total annihilation of the Jewish people.

For more information please contact:

Alan Schneider, director, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem: aschneider@bnaibrith.org

Sivnne Cohen, researcher and director of a future documentary on Alma Rose: 052-3862879 or seev2000@hotmail.com