2. Johansson family sought refuge in a sympathizer’s home in Poland for nearly 3
years. Years later, speaking in broken English, Mr. Johansson would tremble
retelling the story of hearing a knock on the door that seemed to last forever, the
discovery of his family’s hiding place and subsequent orders of deportation to the
concentration camp.
It was November 1944 and despite a mounting offensive by the Red Army the
Nazi’s continued their tirade of persecution against the Jewish people. With tears
streaming down the lines on his face Mr. Johansson spoke sorrowfully about how
his family disembarked from the train to Auschwitz from Poland clutching their
papers and each other adding that it was so cold their breath seemed to spell out
the letters when they told the officials their names. At this point in the story Mr.
Johansson began to have great difficulty finishing. With long pauses he retold how
his family remained together for days upon arrival at the camp. He wept as he
vividly related how the officials came and took away his wife and Greta. Sadly he
and Elsa waited and waited for them but never saw their precious faces again.
Bravely they waited for their similar fate when suddenly; the Red Army appeared
in the camp and set them all free. Though he searched and searched, it was a
bittersweet release because it meant leaving the camp without his beloved wife
and Greta. It was usually as this point that he could no longer go on. November
1944 played out daily in his mind he spent each day hurting and grieving over his
wife and Greta.
Elsa and her father immigrated to America and arrived on Ellis Island in New York
in the fall of 1945. Elsa would remark later “It was as if her father’s body arrived
on Ellis Island but his soul remained in Auschwitz. Elsa learned to live without her
fathers input in her life and did all she could to help him.
Years later, Elsa still missed her mother and sister. Her father had managed to
keep a small picture of her mother hidden from the officials which Elsa kept in a
locket around her neck. She remembered Greta’s smile, it was this pleasant
memory of her younger sister that she kept branded in her mind whenever Greta’s
name would come up. As long as she focused on her smile the rest of the story
didn’t hurt as much. She quickly adjusted to life in New York. She graduated from
High School and went to work at the Long Island Journal in1954 at the age of 18.
It was hard work and the hours were long but she was grateful to have a job and
felt ashamed whenever she thought of complaining. She had been working at the
paper for a few months before she met Stan, he was a machine inspector. At first,
Elsa was too shy to look at him when he would speak to her but he was beginning
to make a daily habit of greeting her. In fact, Stan would go out of his way to
speak to her. Elsa wondered why he sought her out but found herself slowly
beginning to look forward to his daily visits. It was hard to hold a conversation at
work because the machines were so noisy, yet he never seemed undaunted by this
fact.
A budding friendship grew and she and Stan shared many conversations. They