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Robin Schwartz

ily, and they were sent to a train platform. a telephone technician.”
Before she could board the train
Sol ended up doing various jobs,
that would have likely sent her to a
including selling fish and fresh fruit.
concentration camp, a man handed
Shoshana learned to sew and was a seam-
her a Swedish passport and told her
stress on Detroit’s “Avenue of Fashion”
not to speak any Hungarian. The man, on Livernois. She recalls her pay was
who unknown
90 cents per hour.
to her was likely
Today, the Winklers
Raoul Wallenberg
live with their daugh-
[a Swedish busi-
ter and son-in-law
nessman and
in Beverly Hills. Sol
diplomat credited
is 91 and Shoshana
with saving tens
is 88.
of thousands of
“To be able to go
Hungarian Jews],
through what they
took her and the
went through — the
other girls away
war years, helping
to a safehouse
build Israel, com-
by the Danube
ing back to another
River. Shoshana Three generations: Hayley Schostak, 5,
country again and
was placed at the with her mother, Alexis, and great-grand- starting all over in
Spanish Consulate mother, Shoshana Winkler
this country — that
and hid there
determination and
until the end of
that willpower is
the war.
incredible,” says their daughter, Lillian
Schostak. “They gave my brother and
PAINFUL BEGINNINGS
me and their grandchildren their inner
When the war ended, Shoshana went
strength.”
back to her childhood home and was hor-
Like many Holocaust survivors, the
rified to learn the handyman and his wife Winklers never talked about their hor-
had moved in, claiming the house and all rific experiences until recently. They now
of her family’s belongings were theirs. She feel strongly about sharing their story to
approached a friend from school, excited
ensure that future generations continue
to see a familiar face and was met with
to learn and never forget. In their honor,
a cold and callous greeting. “She said,
the family created the Shoshana and Sol
‘What you doing here? I thought we killed Winkler Educating the Next Generation
all the Jews,’” Shoshana recalls, her voice
Fund through the Holocaust Memorial
cracking with emotion from the painful
Center.
memory.
Family members surprised the couple
Without homes or their families and
with the fund at the anniversary celebra-
with nowhere to go, Sol and Shoshana
tion and also presented a scrapbook with
both ended up at the DP camp. He
photos and handwritten messages from
remembers the first time he laid eyes on
partygoers.
her.
“I am filled with such joy knowing
“I was in love with her as soon as I
that not only do my grandparents get to
met her,” Sol says. “I told myself, ‘That’s
spend quality time with my children, but
it.’ I used to take her out across the street
that my kids will be old enough to have
from the immigration camp. We got mar- actual memories of their great-grand-
ried about three months later.”
parents, who represent their connection
Following the wedding, the couple
to the history of the Jewish people,”
tried to leave along with about 200 others says Michael Schostak of Bloomfield
packed into a fishing boat bound for what Township. “My grandparents have been
was then Palestine. They were stopped
my inspiration in life to never settle for
by the British and forced to an intern-
second best.”
ment camp in Cyprus where they were
Reflecting upon the couple’s lifetime
imprisoned for several months. When
commitment, Shoshana recalls some-
they finally got to Palestine in 1947, Sol
thing her father told her that she says
immediately went to war, helping fight
helped keep them together through thick
for Israel’s independence. Ten years later,
and thin.
he moved to Detroit with his brother,
“He said when you give your word to
Joseph, eventually bringing Shoshana and somebody, you stand behind it and don’t
their two young children to join him.
ever change your mind about it,” she
“I always wanted to come here. This
recalls. “I gave him my word. I stayed
country is the best country in the world,”
with him, and I am still here.”
Sol says. “It was a good feeling. But, after
To make a contribution to the Shoshana and Sol
then, it was very hard here because the
Winkler Educating the Next Generation Fund, go to
country was very anti-Semitic in 1957.
holocaustcenter.org/makeagift and select the fund in
I didn’t get a job because I came from
Israel, and I was a Jew. My profession was the dropdown box.

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August 11 • 2016

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