Holocaust survivor and novelist Bernat Rosner spoke to the San Ramon Valley Exchange Club about the “enduring nature of the human spirit,” last week at Faz restaurant in Danville.
His 2001 novel, “An Uncommon Friendship,” is a double memoir written with his close friend Frederic Tubach, the son of a Nazi officer. It explores the idea of getting over the barriers that divide people.
In front of an audience of 40, Rosner recalled the story of his youth during a turbulent time in history.
“I suspect most people have seen the cadaver-like bodies of those who emerged from Auschwitz alive. I was one of them,” Rosner said.
He recounted being carted to the camps with his family as a healthy 12-year-old boy and then suffering through brutal beatings, typhoid, malnourishment and frigid cold.
His book offers insights into history by highlighting the experiences and perspectives of both men. The nationalistic brainwashing that Tubach experienced during the Nazi regime is juxtaposed with the dark and desperate situations Rosner endured as a victim of persecution.
But Rosner didn’t just talk about the past, he related the Holocaust to recent events. Extreme fanaticism and contempt for a group of people is dangerous and detrimental to humankind, he said, comparing the Nazi party to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
“He elicited quite a range of human emotions,” said Exchange Club member Phil Linder.
Fascinated with his story, members of the Exchange Club asked him questions about what kept him alive at Auschwitz. He responded that he believed it was luck, age and a natural survival instinct.
“I was young and my body didn’t require as much nourishment,” he said.
While he said 80 percent of his survival was chance, his will to live kept him going.
“I lived one-fourth of a mile away from the crematorium and even with the smell, we still couldn’t bring ourselves to accept that death was the end,” he said.
He then related his experience at Auschwitz to one he had after moving to the United States.
Years ago on the California coast, Rosner visited a tide pool and noticed shelled creatures burrowed in the crack of a rock, he said. As the tide rolled in and a large wave crashed down on the rock, he expected the creatures would be carried away. To his surprise, when the tide cleared, a few were still hanging on.
“I felt an incredible kinship with those little creatures,” he said.
Along with delving into his past, the book also illustrates the present relationship between two of the least likely friends. It details the bond between Rosner and Tubach, despite fundamental differences in their upbringings.
In exploring memories, Rosner said he chose to write the book in the third person because it helped him cope with a past he spent decades trying to forget.
“I needed to separate myself from that 12-year-old boy,” he said.
Rosner, who moved to the U.S. shortly after the war, became general counsel of the Safeway Corp. and lived his life trying not to talk or think about Auschwitz. He didn’t tell his wife or daughters much about what he had lived through.
“It might have been as much to protect me as it was to protect them,” he said.
Then Rosner and Tubach’s wives met and they introduced the two men, who immediately felt connected – although they didn’t talk about the Holocaust or the war until years later. Eventually, they chose to explore their pasts together through the double memoir.
After Rosner’s speech, members of the audience commented on how moved they were by the book. And many Danville residents said they found its links to the present day the most profound.
“An Uncommon Friendship” can be purchased at Rakestraw Books or other major retail bookstores.
