OpenTube

Hear My Story: Monique Rothschild

The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center

9,908 views

“I went to do some research at the Shoah Memorial [in Paris]. That was pretty shocking. You know, to see a piece of paper that actually has my grandparents’ names and the number of the convoy that took them away from Paris to Auschwitz… that was pretty scary.”
Monique Rothschild

In this episode, Monique Rothschild shares the story of her parents, Ernest and Hilda, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933. They ended up in France, and endured war, separation, labor camps, and a harrowing trip to America before settling in Cincinnati. She shares both her personal memories and years of family research. She also reflects on courage and the lessons she learned from her parents.

This episode is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling. Subscribe here @holocaustandhumanity     

Our gratitude to Margaret & Michael Valentine for their ongoing support of this series.   

Connect with us on social media   
Facebook: CincyHHC         
Instagram:           
TikTok: holocaustandhumanity  
  

Episode Resources  

Monique remembers her parents, Ernest and Hilda, on Yom HaShoah
https://cet.pbslearningmedia.org/reso...

Learn more about those who escaped by crossing the Pyrenees Mountains, from France into Spain, during WWII
https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2016...
https://jewisheritage.org/the-catalan...
https://www.cnn.com/travel/freedom-tr...
https://forward.com/life/385313/catal...

The SS Navemar, the ship called the “horror ship” that Monique and her mother travelled on to come to the United States
https://jewishlink.news/the-ship-from...
https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/19/ar...

Visit us in person or online  
https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/

10 Comments

@ulexite-tv 1 month ago (edited)

A story much like that of my mother's German family -- upper-middle-class, progressive, left-leaning, pharmacists, chemists, writers, publishers, teachers, historians, music-lovers, migraineurs, keeping money in little envelopes. I looked her up and we are cousins by DNA, with intermingled roots reaching back to the Luria family in the 1400s.

@ByCloud_ByFire777 1 month ago

Thanks for this testimony! May God bless this dear woman!

@Ana-ry4iv 1 month ago

What a incredibly honest and beautiful women! I thank her, for telling us her story.

@silenzioaffogato 1 month ago

Thank you Monique for sharing your story. ❤❤❤

@HTpack2 1 month ago

Amazing story! ❤ I am always so fascinated when I find others that call their grandmothers Yaya. On my side of the family we are pretty much run of the mill white Americans that had never heard the name Yaya. When my daughter, first grandbaby, we didn’t know what she should call my mom. When my girl was about 6 months old she started saying Yaya every time she saw my mom and the name stuck.

@judyjackson2260 1 month ago

The moral if the story, be thankful. You can overcome.

@michelepascoe6068 1 month ago

Thank you for sharing your family's story. I'm sorry your parents would have been traumatised when you were little and then you didn't have your mother between the ages of 12 and 16 and had to shoulder her responsibilities of managing the house and cooking meals. Glad you didnt have yo clean house and shop for groceries as well. How many of us spend our adult years researching our family's history, having unanswered questions, or even having been misinformed.

@joantaylor468 1 month ago

My question is who did she marry to carry the last name Rothschild?

@patriciazevada4070 1 month ago

Agradezco mucho la entrevista... Pero por favor no hagan el doblaje de traducción con IA es dudosa, y resulta insoportable...

@lindabetnar1354 1 month ago

Do the people in Israel see these videos? When asked what they want people to learn from their stories many say not to judge people by their race, religion but to learn about each othet and respect each other. Could we not avoid situations like Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria or other conflicts if people would just heed the lessons of the past.