Rose was born in 1923 as the eldest daughter of Leah and Yitzhak Orenshtein in the town of Strzyżów, a small town on the bank of the Bug River, about a 15-minute walk from the “big city,” Hrubieszów. Rose had three younger sisters—Rivka, Ida, and Dora—and a brother, David. Their grandmother, who lived with them, maintained a kosher home and nurtured a warm and loving Jewish household.
Rose, who was a good student, longed to be accepted into the gymnasium in Hrubieszów. However, due to her Jewish identity and the quota limiting the number of Jewish students admitted each year, she was unable to enroll. Deeply saddened and disappointed, Rose, who was talented and hardworking, decided after a year of waiting not to give up and moved to Lublin to pursue her education. In 1939, she began high school in Lublin while living with a cousin of her mother. During her studies, she befriended a Polish girl named Ursula Grenda, whose father was the mayor of the city.
Rose did not complete her studies, as the war reached Lublin, and in 1941 she was forced to return home. The war came to the small town of Strzyżów in 1942. By then, ghettos had been established for Jews, where they were concentrated under harsh conditions, monitored and supervised.
Rose and her family realized their lives were in danger and decided that Rose should flee to save her life. Her parents believed they would find a way to cope with their situation. After several days of walking, Rose arrived in Lublin. Ursula’s family provided her with food and new clothes to make her look like a Christian Polish girl. They gave her documents with a Polish name and urged her to escape to Germany. Her new identity was Kazimiera Łukaszuk, a name that would stay with her throughout the war. From that day on, Rose presented herself as a displaced Polish Christian.
On a train to Berlin, Rose sat next to a girl named Helena. The girl fell asleep and, in her sleep, spoke Yiddish. Fearing someone might hear her, Rose woke her up to avoid suspicion that could lead to their exposure. The two worked together in an office in Berlin and became friends. Rose, struggling to keep her Jewish identity a secret, eventually confided in Helena, who revealed her real name was Esther. Rose’s confession to her friend is what later led to her being sent to Auschwitz, following her friend Esther.
After a few months, the Gestapo discovered that Helena (Esther), Rose’s friend, was Jewish. They arrested her and sent her to the camps. Shortly afterward, the Gestapo also came for Rose.
Rose was interrogated but did not admit to being Jewish. She claimed she didn’t understand German and demanded a translation into Polish. After prolonged interrogations, including two months in a Berlin prison, she overheard her interrogators say in German, “Whoever she is, send her to Auschwitz; she’ll die there anyway.” After two months, Rose was sent to Auschwitz as a political prisoner.
Auschwitz was hell on earth—a site of death and horrors. Rose witnessed atrocities, murders, and the burning of Jews. She lived each day in fear, clinging to life, knowing each day could be her last. One day, a close friend from Hrubieszow recognized her in the camp. Rose later recounted, “I looked her in the eyes and said, ‘No, I’m not that person. You’re mistaken,’ and walked away. I had to.”
In Auschwitz, Rose befriended Marisia, a Polish Christian who didn’t know Rose was Jewish. The two supported each other. Rose maintained her false identity with unwavering determination, a decision that ultimately saved her life.
Many in the camp succumbed to typhus, starvation, and cold. Thanks to her intelligence, determination to conceal her identity, and sheer luck, Rose survived.
In December 1944, the camp’s inmates were forced on a death march. Rose and Marisia marched through the snow and cold. When Marisia broke down, Rose supported her. They heard the sounds of the Russian troops war and clung to the hope that the Germans would be defeated. One night, the march stopped at a Polish farm. The farmers, recognizing them as Polish Christians, gave them warm food, and Rose convinced Marisia to hide in the barn rather than continue the march. They guessed that staying might give them a better chance of survival.
After leaving the barn, a Polish farmer helped them by providing clothes and some money. They traveled to Kraków, Marisia’s hometown, where her family welcomed them warmly and took care of their needs. Marisia’s family treated Rose with warmth and love, knowing Marisia credited Rose with saving her life.
Kraków was liberated by the Russians. With no means of communication, Rose realized she needed to return to her hometown to learn what had happened to her family. The farewell with Marisia was difficult, and neither imagined they would never meet again.
Rose described the camp: “I knitted sweaters a quarter mile from the gas chambers. I saw people get off the train and line up for the ‘showers.’ They pushed each other to be first, thinking they’d wash up and prepare for work.”
After the war, Rose returned to her hometown but was stopped by a Polish acquaintance who warned her that returning Jews were being killed. The acquaintance also informed her that her mother, grandmother, and two sisters had perished in the camps. Her father, another sister, and her younger brother were murdered days before the Russians’ victory after being betrayed by Poles. Fifty members of her close family were murdered by the Nazis.
Rose worked in Kraków and discovered the enduring presence of antisemitism, realizing she couldn’t continue living under a Polish identity and wanted to embrace her Jewish heritage. Rose reached displaced persons’ camps in Germany, where she reunited with surviving family members, the Orensteins, who became her close family.
In 1985, Rose returned to Poland searching for Ursula Grenda, who had saved her life. In Lublin, Rose found an abandoned grave bearing Ursula’s name. Ursula had died a few years earlier at the age of 60. Rose restored the grave, engraved it, and ensured flowers were sent regularly. Rose remarked, “I couldn’t write that she saved a Jewish life, because even today the grave would be desecrated. But I don’t say all Poles are bad. How could I? One of them saved my life.”
Rose later met Jack Toren in Israel and they married. Rose and Jack moved to the United States to be near her only relatives. Their daughter, Lily, was born, and they lived in California. Jack passed away in 1993.
