2022 First Person Series: Rose-Helene Spreiregen

Rose-Helene Spreiregen remembers the German occupation of Paris in 1940 and her mother’s arrest and deportation in 1942. Accompanied only by her terrified grandmother who spoke little French, Rose-Helene shouldered adult responsibilities as fundamental as finding food. In 1943, at the age of 12, she and her grandmother used false papers to flee on an overnight train to the south, where they hoped they would be safer. Rose-Helene again acted as the adult, telling her grandmother to feign sleep while she faced the German and French police checkpoints alone. She later recalled, “I don’t think I was ever more scared.”

Join the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to hear how Rose-Helene’s maturity and determination saved her grandmother’s life, and her own.

Speaker
Rose-Helene Spreiregen, Holocaust Survivor and USHMM Volunteer

Moderator
Bill Benson, Journalist and Host, First Person: Conversations with Holocaust Survivors

Watch live at youtube.com/ushmm. You do not need a YouTube account to view USHMM's program. After the live broadcast, the recording will be available to watch on demand on USHMM's YouTube page.

First Person is a monthly hour-long discussion with a Holocaust survivor and is made possible through generous support from the Louis Franklin Smith Foundation, with additional funding from the Arlene and Daniel Fisher Foundation.