[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 54 (Tuesday, May 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO JANET AND HENRY ROSMARIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 5, 1998

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Janet and Henry 
Rosmarin for their bravery, their commitment to the community, and 
their dedication to ensuring that our memories of the Holocaust will 
never be forgotten or silenced. Through all of their hardships they 
have endured not only to survive, but to live such full lives that 
their example of love and loyalty to themselves and others is a high 
standard that the rest of us can only hope to achieve.
  Henry was Henryk Rosmarin and Janet was Jadzia Jakubowicz when they 
met in her father's apartment in the little shtetl of Czeladz in 
Poland. Henryk was there for High Holiday services that were being held 
in secret by Jadzia's father because they had been banned by the Nazi 
administration. She laughed two years later when he proposed that 
``When this is all over we should find each other and we should get 
married and make a life together.'' Just a few weeks after his marriage 
proposal they were forcibly deported from their homes.
  Janet spent years in Auschwitz and Birkenau while Henry was sent to 
Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald. Henry survived by using his harmonica and 
his voice to entertain his captors in return for his life. Both of them 
lost most of their families, but true to his word Henry returned to 
Czeladz where he searched for months before finding Janet.
  That is where a fairy tale would end, but to sum up the following two 
years of searching and resettlement, and the fifty years thereafter, in 
a phrase like, ``They lived happily ever after,'' would understate both 
the Rosmarins and the realities of our times. There have been good 
times, homes and children, but also a struggle that has followed them 
though their lives together. Their lives have been tightly bound with 
the life and history of the Jewish people.
  In Southern California they founded a synagogue with Temple Ner 
Maarav and a life's purpose with the Survivors of the Shoah Visual 
History Project. Henry contributes to the Temple Choir with the musical 
talents that allowed him to survive the concentration camps, and uses 
his music to speak for those who did not. Similarly, for the Shoah 
foundation, he serves as a goodwill ambassador, speaking on its behalf 
and reviewing Visual History contributions, especially those recorded 
in Polish.
  Simon Wiesenthal said that, ``survival is a privilege which entails 
obligations. I am forever asking myself what I can do for those who 
have not survived. The answer that I have found for myself is: I want 
to be their mouthpiece, I want to keep their memory alive, to make sure 
the dead live on in that memory,'' The Rosmarins have formed a new 
community to replace the one that they lost so many years ago in 
Poland. They have not allowed their suffering to prevent them from 
living life and loving God. Their efforts to preserve the testimonies 
of Holocaust survivors are a service to all of us who can listen so 
that we may never forget our part, or those who can no longer tell us 
of their sufferings.
  Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, please join me in paying 
tribute to Janet and Henry Rosmarin. They are an example of strength, 
love, and devotion to us all.




                          ____________________