OUR COMMUNITY

14 | NOVEMBER 4 • 2021 

about her mother’s survival; 
daughter-in-law Anne is a 
docent at the HMC; and Doug 
was a member of the 84th 
Infantry Division that liber-
ated Salzwedel, the last of the 
three camps where Sophie 
was held captive. They all 
have played a role in Sophie’s 
decision to begin sharing her 
story, not just with family, but 
with the public at large. (See 
adjacent article.) 
I had the privilege of join-
ing them to chronicle Sophie’s 
reaction to her first visit to the 
exhibit. It would afford her the 
rare opportunity to be on the 
receiving end of the story of 
the Lodz Ghetto through the 
eyes of someone else who lived 
the same personal horror. 
We were afforded a private 
tour of the exhibit, “The Girl in 
the Diary: Searching for Rywka 
from the Lodz Ghetto,” by 
HMC Manager of Curatorial 
Affairs Mark Mulder.

“I am in this field because 
of people like Sophie,” said 
Mark. “I’ve dedicated my 
career to giving survivors and 
victims of the Holocaust a 
voice. I believe that visitors 
who learn personal stories like 
Sophie’s and Rywka’s develop 
a deep sense of compassion 
for Holocaust victims and 
survivors. Seeing Sophie 
walk through the exhibit and 
how she connected with the 
maps and the artifacts really 
solidifies that this work is still 
important.”

SURGE OF MEMORIES
“It has just brought back all 
these horrific memories of 
what life was like,” Sophie 
told me as we began walking 
through the exhibit. “I was 
so young, and that’s my con-
nection to Rywka because 
we were born in the same 
year.” To be precise, the two 
girls were born just over two 

months apart in 1929. But the 
similarities don’t end there. 
Sophie and Rywka were 10 
years old when the war broke 
out in 1939. “My memories 
were that we were poor, but 
I had a lot of love from my 
family,” Sophie said. Then, 
the Germans invaded Poland 
and soon afterward both their 
families would be forced from 
their homes and into slave 
labor within the barb-wired 
confines of the ghetto.
Sophie entered the ghetto 
with her parents and her two 
older brothers, Moishe and 
Srylek (pronounced Shrue-
lek). Even more heartbreak 
was to come as Sophie’s older 
sister Felicia would end up 
being separated from the fam-
ily within the ghetto. 
Tragically, Sophie and 
Rywka would also have the 
shared experience of witness-
ing the agonizing deaths of 
their parents who succumbed 

to beatings, starvation and 
illness. Sophie’s brother 
Moishe would meet a similar 
fate in the ghetto. Sophie and 
Srylek would eventually be 
reunited with Felicia when 
the three were transported to 
Auschwitz.
“My worst memory, I mean 
there were so many, was watch-
ing my mother, my father, my 
brother dying of such a horri-
ble, slow death,” said Sophie, 
taking small pauses to com-
pose herself as the visions of 
the atrocities resurfaced. “No 
medical help, no medicine — 
nothing — no food.” 

RELIVING GHETTO LIFE
Rykwa’s diary is supplemented 
throughout the exhibit by com-
mentaries from rabbis, histori-
ans, psychologists and doctors; 
largely from female contribu-
tors, that add historical context 
to what Rywka described in 
her writings that was the life of 

continued from page 13

ABOVE: Liberator Doug Harvey of Sterling Heights with his 
family. RIGHT: Harvey with Sophie Tajch Klisman. 

