Sabina Zimering (née Szwarc; February 24, 1923 – September 6, 2021) was a Polish-American

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

and memoirist known for sharing her experiences during

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Born in Poland, she survived the Holocaust living in Germany under an assumed identity as a Catholic Pole. After the war, she resumed her studies and earned a medical degree at Munich Medical College, one of the only women and Jewish students to do so. She immigrated to the United States to join what family remained after the Holocaust, and practiced ophthalmology. In 2001, she published her memoirs, ''Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Memoir'', which has twice been adapted as a play.

Early life

Sabina Szwarc was born February 24, 1923, to a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

family. She had a sister, Helka, and brother, Nathan. They lived in

Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the capital of Piotrków County and the second-largest city in the Łódź Voi ...

. The family spoke both

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and Polish in the home and attended synagogue and celebrated holidays, but did not keep kosher, a source of conflict with Sabina's Orthodox grandparents. Her father had a small coal business that struggled in the 1930s' depression, but an autodidact, he spent Saturdays taking his daughters for pastries and reading the cafes' free copies of Yiddish and Polish newspapers. Her mother was an educated woman from an affluent Russian family, and both parents placed great emphasis on education. They had opposing politics, however, as Sabina's father was a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

who hoped a reformed Poland would be a safe homeland for its Jewish residents, while her mother was more

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, feeling his confidence was misplaced and Jews needed to seek safety in Israel. Sabina initially attended a Polish public school and though Jewish students were exempted from

Catholic theology Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholi ...

lessons, she was bored by the free time and joined her classmates studying the

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

, which proved useful knowledge later on. She next enrolled in a private Jewish gymnasium as her mother, despite the expense, insisted on giving her an education similar to what she had received; she graduated at 16 shortly prior to the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939.

During the Holocaust

That year the Szwarcs were sent to the

Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto The Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto () was created in Piotrków Trybunalski on , shortly after the 1939 German Invasion of Poland in World War II. It was the first Nazi ghetto in occupied Europe. founded on The town was occupied by the Wehrmacht on ...

. Szwarc's family friend and former schoolteacher, Kazimiera Justyna, a Roman Catholic, provided Szwarc's family with her own identification paper and those of her daughters, Danka and Mala Justyna. This allowed Szwarc, her sister, Helka, and her mother to masquerade as Catholic Poles and escape to Germany. The sisters worked as maids at hotels frequented by Nazi officers, including the Maximilian Hotel in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

for three years. Kazimiera, Danka and Mala Justyna were caught as members of the Polish resistance. The mother was sent to a concentration camp and a daughter was almost executed. Szwarc's brother, Nathan, survived

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

but witnessed their father die two days before liberation. Her mother was murdered in a

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...

at the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Mas ...

. In total, of 50 to 60 extended family members, seven survived. Szwarc had not been especially religious before the war, and was even less so after, asking, "if there was a God, where was he?"

Career

After the war, Szwarc traded in her Polish identification papers to restore her identity and with American support, she and her sister got an apartment in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

. An opportunity arose to resume her education and she soon relocated to Munich, becoming one of a few women and Jews to attend Munich Medical School, completing her M.D. in 1950. For Szwarc, as with other Jewish student survivors, the postwar years were marked with what historian

Jeremy Varon Jeremy Peter Varon (born 1967) is an American historian. He is a professor of history at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College. He is the author of the books, ''Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Fac ...

called "liberating abandon", with outdoor adventures, canoeing and scaling mountains, and participating in the broader trend of reappropriating former Nazi sites of note, for instance with student trips to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's former compound at

Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps. South of the town, the Be ...

, gleeful to be alive and now occupying the hotel rooms that had so recently hosted

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and top Nazi generals. Szwarc also dealt with isolation and

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

at school, with just a few Jewish students enrolled among Germans who at times demonstrated resentment toward them. After immigrating to the United States, she learned English and earned a Minnesota medical license. She married Rueben Zimering and took the license exam on the

due date Due date may refer to * Due date (payment), the last valid day of payment for an invoice * Due date (pregnancy), the estimated delivery date for a pregnant woman * '' Due Date'', a 2010 American movie * ''Due Date'', a 2011 solo exhibition by Am ...

of their first child. She worked part-time at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Student Health Service for ten years. After her children became old enough to attend school, she worked there fulltime as an

for another ten years. Zimering opened her own ophthalmology practice where her proficiency in the

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

was useful when treating

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an patients. Zimering was a medical practitioner for 42 years. She retired in 1996. In her 70s, Zimering became a memoirist and traveled the United States to speak about the Holocaust. At the insistence of her family, Zimering authored the book, The memoir was adapted to a play in 2004 by Hayley Finn and in 2010 by playwright Kira Obolensky.

Personal life

Szwarc immigrated to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in 1949 to join her siblings. In 1950, she married her former medical school classmate, Rueben Zimering. The Zimerings lived in Minneapolis. They had six children. Rueben died in 2012. Zimering lived in

St. Louis Park, Minnesota St. Louis Park is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 50,010 at the 2020 census. It is a first-ring suburb immediately west of Minneapolis. Other adjacent cities include Edina, Golden Valley, Minnetonka, Pl ...

. One of the Polish Catholic daughters who allowed her to use her identification papers was jailed after the war for allegedly being anti-communist. Zimering sent her medication for tuberculosis and advocated for her release from jail. In 1979, Zimering's Adath Jeshurun Synagogue honored the Polish sisters for risking their lives to save Zimering's family. In 2011, Zimering visited Poland to show her two daughters her life during

. She died in her sleep on September 6, 2021, in her St. Louis Park home.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimering, Sabina 1923 births 2021 deaths Polish emigrants to the United States 20th-century Polish Jews American people of Polish-Jewish descent Nazi-era ghetto inmates American ophthalmologists Polish ophthalmologists 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians 20th-century Polish physicians American women memoirists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Polish women writers Jewish women writers Jewish American memoirists People from St. Louis Park, Minnesota Physicians from Minnesota Writers from Minnesota University of Minnesota people People from Piotrków Trybunalski Yiddish-speaking people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century Polish physicians Jews from Minnesota