Sam Rogoff gave an exceptionally harrowing yet hugely inspiring talk about his mother’s (Rela) survival of the Shoah. Entitled ‘The Will To Live,’ Sam re-told the story of the brutality Rela faced, alongside the horror of so many thousands around her murdered, including watching her father, siblings and other relatives being shot into an open grave and finding her mother shot dead in bed.
Sam spoke of the lives of his mother and family that were so cruelly decimated as the Nazis rose to power, the influence of the Russia/Germany pact and what life was like in the Ghetto. Rela survived Birkenau for nearly two years despite having typhus and appendicitis. Yet the story will also filled with some shards of light – Sam spoke of some of the many non-Jewish individuals who risked their lives to save Rela throughout her ordeal, as well as the immense resilience that Rela demonstrated in her determination to stay alive. He also spoke of the strength generated by Rela’s relationship with her one remaining sister, whom she only found to be alive in Israel in the 1960s.
The love story between Rela and Sam’s father was a joy to hear; the British soldier looked after Rela after the camps, and they were engaged only two weeks after meeting. They went on to have a strong and happy marriage for 60 years, with their two boys and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. Rela suffered several psychological effects from her Holocaust ordeal but nevertheless managed to focus on the future. It was only when she was 81 that she decided to recount her terrible story in the form of a book, from which Sam ( with Generation 2 Generation) created the talk, narrated in part by several family members.
Lucie Gilbert
(photos by Bernard Redhouse)