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PP for last year and President for first quarter of new Rotary year, Benjamin Fisher opened the meeting by recognizing and thanking Bob Simon as the greeter, PP Ron Lyster leading everyone in the pledge, PP Michael Newman giving the Thought of the Day, PPx2 Chris Gaynor for writing this week’s Windmill and, PP Ed Gauld for leading the crowd in singing “Oh Susanna”. Guests included current first lady x2, Susan Taylor Fisher and PP Mark Rogo’s THE SHADOW David Kames from Dusseldorf, Germany.
Amy Munoz of Westwood Transitional Village (Village) was introduced to ask for help in providing backpacks to the unhoused children living here at the Village. She explained there were over 60 children who will be attending school starting in August from pre-school through High School and backpacks are needed filled with supplies to assist them in their new school year. President Benjamin assessed all members $25.00 (Terry M. White will bill) towards purchase of the backpacks and supplies. Amy will arrange a day for the Westwood Village Rotarians to come meet/greet and give a backpack to a student. Thank you, Rotary Club of Westwood Village, – you are the Best!! BTW the District Governor has on his agenda this year addressing homelessness through partnerships with shelters to provide items such as backpacks.
The Club and guests were then introduced to the speakers for today, Monika who we all know and adore, and a Santa Monica Rotarian came back for a continual presentation bringing her sister with her on their survival of the Holocaust.
Gitta Moris and Monika White identical twin girls were born in 1935 in Berlin Germany.
Their story is from the perspective of a young child. Let’s begin in 1933-1938 Adolph Hitler built 5 work camps which would later become death camps. At that time if someone identified and reported you as a JEW you could be detained and sent to a work camp. This is what happened to their father who ended up in Buchenwald. However, it was possible to be let out if you could show the means and the ability to leave Germany. This is what occurred. The family somehow were able to get passage to Shanghai, China, as no other country was accepting Jewish emigrees.
20,000 other refugees entered Shanghai, and all moved into the Shanghai Ghetto. 300 babies were born in a ten-year period including two sets of twins. One was identical twin girls.
Accommodations were tight and one room would house an entire family and sometimes additional ones. The community built a synagogue and two schools with help from wealthy Persian Jews. Everyone tried to work. Their father worked in a water purification factory. By 1938 the Japanese military herded all 20,000 refugees into a housing development cramming sometimes up to five families into a single room. They were instructed during all bombing raids to open all the windows to risk the building imploding. The twins always went to school. One evening the twins' mother up and vanished and her husband, their father never shared with them the reason why!
The twins were adorable and asked to dress up and perform songs from many different countries. In 1942 at 7 years old, their father remarried a woman with a daughter. This turned out to be a difficult time for the twins over the next ten years as the stepmother was verbally and physically abusive.
After the war the refugees, including the twins, were moved back to the ghetto where they remained for three years. In 1952 the family, father, stepmother, stepsister and the twins were admitted sanctuary in the United States. They traveled by boat for three weeks in the most horrendous conditions. Upon arriving in San Francisco with no papers except a document stating bearer is from a country now defunct, they were given a house to live in Duluth, Minnesota.
At 17 the girls left home to get away from the situation and go to a warmer climate. Gita married having 5 children, which produced 12 grandchildren and to date 6 great grandchildren. Monika went to college, graduate school in Gerontology and taught at USC.
In the interim the twins formed a banjo playing band comprising five women and performed all over the country including Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm.
The twins were able after nearly 5 long years to track down their mother. Their mother had also remarried and given birth to a girl. The mother never mentioned she had abandoned her twin daughters all those years ago. As elated as their mother was to see the twins, their new half-sister was stunned to hear she had relatives living in America. The reunion went well and the twins to this day have a relationship with their half-sister.
This is an extraordinary story of survival and the will to go on. Monika and Gitta will turn 90 years young this year.
It was a wonderful presentation with lots of questions afterwards. President Benjamin thanked the ladies, and each has been presented with a gift from the Club.
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