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Devoted Volunteer

Her inner beauty shines through.

Sue Pearl
Special to the Jewish News

W

hen I look at my beautiful

friend, Rochelle Sable, 86, it
is hard for me to believe the
horrors that she has lived through.
She is always impeccably dressed in
a stylish outfit and matching jewelry,
which she has often designed herself.
Seeing her now, it is difficult to imagine
that she spent five years in Siberia wear-
ing the same dirty clothes day after day.
And it is almost impossible to fathom
that the good-humored friend whom I
now know spent many years never smil-
ing or laughing. How is it that Rochelle,
once treated so horribly by others, now
devotes her life to volunteering?
When Rochelle was 14 years old, the
Germans came into her hometown and
told all Jews to leave their homes. "We
were given two hours to pack:' said
Rochelle, who was born in Poland, July
23, 1925, and lived in the small town
of Dlugosiodlo with her parents, three
brothers and grandfather.
"A German soldier shouted from a
bullhorn for all to hear, 'We don't want
any Jews living here!' My mother cried
out, `God, where are You?' As I rushed to
pack, I, too, wondered where God was.
"That night, we stayed with a farmer
my father knew," said Rochelle. "We soon
realized though that we would only be
allowed to stay one night. On every house
there was a sign that read: 'If anyone
helps the Jews, you will all be killed!'
"We left the farm the next morning,
walking endlessly for hours. Soon, we
were captured by the Russian soldiers
who had made a pact with the Germans
to take over a portion of Poland.
"We were sent to Bialystok, Russia,
for about a year-and-a-half where my
job was carrying heavy pails of water to
men who were making bricks. My fam-
ily of six lived in a tiny house with one
small kitchen and one bedroom with

beds made of straw.
"My father was given the opportunity
to get Russian passports for our fam-
ily, but he refused to become a Russian
citizen. For defying the Russians, we
were sent to Siberia, which ended up
saving my family's lives. We found out
later that the people who did decide
to become Russian citizens ended
up being killed in the concentration
camps."
Rochelle's family spent five years in
Siberia, where they were in constant fear
knowing that if they said or did anything
wrong, they would be jailed.
"My hands were constantly blistered:'
said Rochelle, whose job was taking bricks
out of a hot oven and stacking them.
"We had 11 people living in one
room. Food was a tiny piece of bread
and sometimes soup that tasted like
water. I watched in horror as so many
people around me died from lack of
food and temperatures 40 below zero.
Still to this day, it makes me cry to
think about it.
"When my family was finally given
permission to leave Siberia, I went to
work in Kiev:' said Rochelle. "We trav-
eled back to Poland a year-and-a-half
later. The Germans had been kicked out
of Poland by the time we arrived, but
we never went back to our old town."

Life In The New World
Rochelle's family decided to make a
new life for themselves so her parents
contacted an uncle in Costa Rica. They
lived in Paris for six months while wait-
ing for a visa before being able to travel
to Costa Rica.
After living in Costa Rica for a short
time, Rochelle really wanted to come to
America.
"I was so happy when I got a visa to
come to the U.S.," said Rochelle, who
went to live with her aunt in New York
before coming to Detroit and meeting
her soon-to-be husband, Norman.

Devoted on page 22

20

December 29 2011