[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO HENRY AND JANET ROSMARIN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 1998

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, my colleague Mr. Waxman and I rise today to 
pay tribute to Henry and Janet Rosmarin, who are actively involved with 
Temple Ner Maarav and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History 
Project. Their interest in the latter is more than historical; Henry 
and Janet are survivors themselves.
  Henry, born Henryk Rosmarin, and Janet, born Jadzia Jakubowicz, met 
in her father's apartment in the shtetl of Czeladz in Poland. Henry 
came to High Holiday services, illegal under the rules of the 
conquering Nazi powers. Two years later the Gestapo rounded up all the 
Jews in the village.
  As the Nazis closed in, Henry, displaying remarkable bravado and 
optimism, turned to Janet and said, ``When this is all over we should 
find each other and we should get married and make a life together.'' 
She promised to meet him back in the same town when they were free.
  A few weeks later they were deported to the death camps. During the 
war Janet was an inmate at Auschwitz and Birkenau; Henry at Gross-
Rosen, Buchenwald and a few others. One of the ways Henry survived was 
with his harmonica. He entertained his captors in return for his life.
  Most of Henry's family and most of Janet's family were murdered in 
the camps. Despite his grief, Henry kept his promise. He returned to 
Czeladz and waited for Janet. After several months a young woman came 
to town and happened to ask a cousin of Henry's what had become of 
Henryk Rosmarin. ``You must be Jadzia Jakubowicz,'' was the startled 
reply.
  Fifty years ago, Henry and Janet were married. They raised a family 
and settled in Southern California. The Rosmarins have somehow retained 
the values of the shtetl--family and community--while living in an 
entirely different and more complex world.
  We ask our colleagues to join us in honoring Janet and Henry 
Rosmarin, whose story is testimony to the power of the human spirit. 
Their will to live is a stirring example for us all.

                          ____________________