Gerda Schild Haas (1922–2021) was raised in a religious Jewish family in Ansbach, Germany, where her father, Siegfried, was the kosher butcher. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the family began to experience antisemitic persecution. After Kristallnacht in November 1938, her family was forced out of their home and ordered to move to Munich. Gerda's father immigrated to the United States but was unable to arrange for the rest of his family to join him. Gerda moved to Berlin where she worked as a nurse in a Jewish hospital. In November 1941, Gerda’s mother, Paula, and her sister, Elfriede, were deported to Kovno (Kaunas) in German-occupied Lithuania. There, the women were shot at the Ninth Fort, a killing site. In May 1943, Gerda was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she became close friends with another young woman named Eva and worked as a nurse in a children’s home. In February 1945, Gerda and her Eva joined a rescue transport to Switzerland. She reunited with her father in the United States in April 1946.
Let's see, he left in '39, and I saw him again in '40..., '46...in April of '46, and it was very strange. I came by boat, and I arrived, um, I think it was during the Passover, during the Pesach holidays. And my father also remained very religious. And he came to Boston to pick me up. I arrived at the Boston Harbor, and he, he couldn't travel to the boat to pick me up. He sent somebody else, and that somebody took me then to an apartment where he stayed and I saw him again. And I thought that I would see an old man because I had gone through so much. I had lived six lifetimes, you see, that to me it was like a hundred years. And I thought there would be this old, broken man full of grief, and full of sorrow and remorse. But it wasn't. There was a young, beautiful, dark haired, straight, upright man in his prime, 50 years old, who greeted me. And that, that was...I had to adjust my inner vision and my outer, and what I saw in reality. That took a little bit. And, um, it took a while for us to become comfortable with each other. I, I will have to admit that. I will have to admit that.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.
