“My father always wanted us to remember what was happening to be able to tell the world so the world should know of the heinous crimes the Germans committed. He always told us ‘Remember what is happening.’ It was my father’s strong message to survive and tell the world”

I n March 1944 Estusia approached me. She told me that resistance was being organized and that we were in a position to help because we were the only ones with access to powder. Would I be willing to risk the danger?

“Of course I agreed as did two or three other women in the gunpowder room including the forelady. We were 99 percent certain that the Nazis would not let us survive so we wanted to do something.”

Estusia Wajcblum had chosen well.

With her sweet tooth and penchant for mischief Rose Grunapfel learned early on to carefully cover her tracks. Born in Zator southern Poland in 1919 Rose was the fourth of seven children. Her father Reb Shlomo Zalman a Radomsker chassid and member of the town council owned a general store in the center of town.

Knowing his oldest daughter’s proclivities Reb Shlomo Zalman kept a sharp eye on Rose. He allowed her one and only one candy from the store each day too little for youthful Rose. So one day she requested a candy for her younger sister as well. She thought she got away with the ruse — until she noticed her father watching her from the window as she left the store.

Over 70 years later Rose remarked with a rueful expression and a twinkle in her eye how disappointed she was when she realized that she could not devour that second sweet. Rose’s disposition for taking risks and deviating from rules laid the foundation for her heroism in the later years of the Holocaust.

World War II broke out on the cusp of Rose’s 20th birthday. Food formerly in abundance was suddenly scarce. A foretaste of the horrors to come Rose’s younger sister Chayche went missing. “It was like Tishah B’Av in the house ” Rose recounted years later. The ten-year-old returned hours later looking strangely swollen. Oblivious to the havoc she had caused Chayche responded to her family’s harried questions by shaking sacks of flour rice and other commodities out of her clothes.