MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg’s Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies will welcome Holocaust survivor Ronnie Reutlinger Breslow at noon on Thursday, April 11, via webinar. The event is co-sponsored by the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center in Philadelphia.
Breslow, born in Kircheim, Germany, will share how her stamp collection saved the lives of her and her mother as they tried to gain safe passage to the United States during the Holocaust.
Breslow and her parents, who owned and operated a dry goods store located below their home were forced to flee Germany after the Nazis passed several laws restricting the movements and livelihoods of Jews.
Passports were hard to obtain and passage on a ship became even more difficult since thousands were fleeing the country. A single ticket to Cuba became available and the family decided that Breslow’s father should go since men were in the most danger at the time. She and her mother would follow on the next boat. They boarded a ship called the St. Louis in May 1939, and sailed for Cuba with other Jews. For safekeeping, Ronnie brought her stamp collection.
Cuba refused to allow the St. Louis to dock. After many weeks adrift at sea, Breslow and her mother wound up in Holland. They were placed in Rotterdam West, a detention camp, where children stayed in separate buildings from their parents. Her mother discovered that the camp commander was an avid stamp collector and gave him her daughter’s collection to gain passage for both of them to the United States where her father was waiting for them.
This event is free and open to the public, and registration is requested. For additional information, please contact chjs@psu.edu.