about
Her Story
Judith Rosenberg was born in 1928 in a small Czech town near the Carpathian mountains. At fourteen, Judith--along with all the Jews of her town--was forced into a ghetto, then into Auschwitz. After the war, she traveled across Germany in search of the surviving members of her family, and with the dream of beginning a career as a singer.
Judith met Paul Schneiderman, an actor in a Yiddish theatre troupe in Landsberg, Germany and it was love (almost) at first sight.
Their Story
Paul was one of the only Jewish survivors of a small town called Kazimierz Dolny, located in central Poland. He spent from 1940 until 1945 in ghettos, labor camps, and concentration camps, including Buchenwald and Dachau.
After the war, Paul helped to set up one of the largest Displaced Person’s camp in Germany. There, he volunteered as a member of the Red Cross, implemented new organizational systems to house the growing Jewish population, and was one of the founding members of the Hazomir, the camp’s Yiddish theatre troupe where he met Judith.
Two weeks after Paul saw Judith for the first time, he asked her to marry him. They came to America penniless, but Paul found work sewing women’s suits in New York City and soon went on to purchase a chicken farm in Flemington, NJ, where he and Judith spent their lives raising a strong, vibrant, and happy family.
At seventy-two, without the benefit of a high school education and in a language not her own, Judith decided to write her memoirs. With the help of her eldest granddaughter, Jennifer, the two worked for the next ten years molding Judith’s story into a narrative. In 2010, I Sang to Survive, a story of hope and human kindness was completed, and soon after, Judith’s memoir was translated into German by Stiftung Denkmal fur die ermordenten Juden Europas (The Endowment Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe).
Paul Schneiderman passed away in 2013. Paul and Judith were married for 66 years.
Judith resides in Columbus, Ohio.
About Jennifer
In 2001, Jennifer received an excited phone call from Grandma Judy. “Jenny, I want to write my story. I have a story to tell!” With more energy and gusto than Jennifer had ever seen her grandmother have in her life, they embarked on a daunting mission. To create a memoir. Nine years later, I Sang To Survive, a story of hope and human kindness was published.
Jennifer holds a BA in Theatre for Penn State University, an MFA in acting from the University of South Carolina, and is a certified Alexander Technique teacher. Currently, she lives in Los Angeles where she teaches the Alexander Technique and acting at local studios and universities.
