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- Ernst Rosengarten went to Palestine in 1936 to compete in the 1936 Maccabe Games. Once the games were over, Ernst returned to Germany where he married his wife, A Frida Meyerhof. He Family was rather well off, as they owned a chemical plant in Italy. They moved and lived in Italy. When the German Army occupied Italy, Ernst was interned in a concentration camp, and spent quite a bit of time as a prisoner. Once the American?s invaded, he was liberated. For some time after his release from this concentration camp he joined the American Army.
His wife Frida and her Mother, survived the war by being hidden in a Convent. The Nuns told Frieda when her Mother died, that her last request was that Frieda, convert to Catholicism. This caused Frieda a life time of mental pain and anguish. She spent a great deal of time in Therapy and at times was institutionalized as a result of this event and what had happened to her during the Holocaust.
They made their way to San Francisco, California, USA. He changed their names to Ernest and Frida Roof. He was a carpenter. He got hurt on the job and damaged his shoulder so bad when he fell off a roof, that he had to re-train, and he became a T.V. service repairman for the RCA Company, in San Francisco, California. He once got mugged on the job and his wallet and watch stolen in the Hunter?s Point District of San Francisco. When he changed his family name to Roof, he took the first two letters of Rosengarten and the last two letters of Meyerhof. They lived in an apartment across the street from the Golden Gate Park.
From Andrew Rosengarten:
As a child my Sister Linda Rosengarten-Hock and I, took many walks with our parents, Ernst and Frida in this park. I remember Ernst and Frida being very fond of my sister and I. One of the most memorable stories that I remember about Ernst was when he and my Father met after finding out each other had survived the War. My Mother Eveline, got my sister and I to get dressed in our best clothes.
It was a very tension filled Sunday morning, as we prepared for this day of family re-unification. My Father, Manfred was more irritable than usual, as he paced the hallway of our house in Martinez, California. My Mother made sure a sense of quite order was maintained. We got into our Volkswagon, (a good German car), and drove very quietly to San Rafael, California.
We pulled up in Front of a white house, with a manicured lawn, nicely appointed garden, and a white picket fence that had nicely kept houses on either side. The air was electrified, as the front door of the house was cautiously opened by its occupants who were filled by a sense of tension filled anticipation, as we got out of our car.
My Father approached the house after opening the small gate and letting the narrow concrete pathway guide him to the front door. As my Mother held my Sister and I, in her arms, we watched Ernst and my Father embrace. Quite sobs could be heard all along the street of this quite residential neighborhood. Ernst, feel to his knees, as my Father worked at controlling his closely guarded emotional state. He slowly bent down and comforted his long lost Cousin.
Each had thought that the other was lost as a result of the Holocaust, and never to be seen or heard of again. Together again, after surviving all that the War had thrown at them as they traveled the irony filled convoluted pathways of life to once again become a part of each others lives.
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1913 - 1983 (69 years)