18 | MAY 23 • 2024 
J
N

I

n what is perhaps the greatest 
defiance to the Nazis’ mission 
to exterminate the Jewish 
population during World War 
II, Auschwitz survivor Katherine 
Sattler not only endured unimag-
inable challenges during one of the 
darkest periods in history, but also 
built a remarkable life and family 
that has now led to her celebrating 
her 100th birthday.
On May 6, 2024, Sattler, a 
Czech native and current West 
Bloomfield resident, celebrated 100 
rotations around the sun. It’s been 
a fulfilling century for Sattler, who 
has three children, five grandchil-
dren and four great-grandchildren 
— whose lives are all possible 
thanks to her determination and 
resolve to survive the Holocaust.

A CHANGING WORLD
Born in Uzhhorod, Czechoslovakia, now 
modern-day Ukraine, Sattler, born Katerina 
Rosenbaum, had what she calls a “beautiful 
childhood” with everything she wanted.
As a child, she had a close-knit group of 
friends who were predominantly Christian. 
Sattler would attend church with them, and 
they in turn would attend synagogue with 
her — a mutual respect of both religions.
Yet, during the Nazi occupation of 
Czechoslovakia during World War II, Sattler 
says everything changed when Jews were 
forced to wear a yellow Star of David on 
their clothing.
“I lost all my girlfriends,
” she said in an 
interview with USC Shoah Foundation. 
“I couldn’t go to their homes, and they 
wouldn’t come into our house, either.
”
Overnight, Sattler found herself virtually 
alone. Eventually, like thousands of other 
Czechoslovakian Jews, Sattler’s family was 
rounded up and deported to Auschwitz.
Sattler was on a cattle train for three days 
with almost no food and water before arriv-

ing in Auschwitz with her family. She spent 
two years imprisoned in multiple camps.

FINDING THE WILL TO LIVE
Each day, the threat of death hung over 
Sattler.
The kapo, or prisoner functionary 
assigned to one of Sattler’s barracks, told her, 
“Now that you are here, you will never get 
out of here alive.
”
Yet Sattler had other plans. Despite wit-
nessing unimaginable hardship day after 
day, she harnessed her inner strength to stay 
alive.
“I remember when they killed gypsies one 
night,
” she recalls of Auschwitz. “I remem-
ber when they killed gay people one night. 
I remember when they killed people who 
were brought over from another camp one 
night.
”
Despite the nearly nightly horrors, Sattler 
reassured her sister, Gabriella, whom she 
called Ella, that they would be free for Ella’s 
birthday. “I promise you we will celebrate,
” 

Sattler told her sister on May 3; 
Ella’s birthday was one week away 
on May 10.
“Then we were liberated,
” Sattler 
said.

STARTING OVER
Sattler, Ella, their brother Andrew 
(who was imprisoned in a dif-
ferent camp) and mother, Julia, 
survived, but, sadly, Sattler’s father, 
Kalman, was killed upon arrival in 
Auschwitz.
In 1946, Sattler boarded a ship 
from Sweden bound for New York 
and traveled west to join her moth-
er’s two brothers in Los Angeles, 
one of whom provided her with 
an apartment to live in. Slowly but 
surely, Sattler began to rebuild her 
life in America.
“Our lives started,
” she described 
in the USC Shoah Foundation 
interview. “That was it. That was the begin-
ning of our beautiful life in the United 
States.
”
She met her husband, Metro Detroit 
native Carl Sattler, in Los Angeles, where she 
steadily built a career as a costume designer 
and dressmaker.
While in Los Angeles, Sattler made sig-
nificant contributions to early Hollywood 
and collaborated with legendary American 
costume designer Edith Head.
Eventually, Carl and Katherine made their 
way back to the Detroit area, where they 
raised a family. Since then, the Sattlers have 
also resided in Boca Raton.
Now, at 100, Katherine Sattler continues to 
find the drive to keep going.
“I play tennis. I’m a golf player. I play 
mahjong. I play bridge,
” Sattler said. “That 
keeps me busy. It keeps me thinking. It keeps 
my mind going.
“I don’t sit and say, ‘What am I going to 
do tomorrow?’” she continued. “That never 
bothered me.
” 

Czech native and Metro Detroit resident Katherine 
Sattler celebrates major milestone.
Auschwitz Survivor Turns 100

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Katherine 
Sattler

