Rita Rosswas born in Vienna, Austria two years before Hitler's troops stormed the country. She spent the war years hiding her Jewish identity and came to America in 1945 where she met the father she hadn’t seen in six years. Instead of finding a beautiful home, a real school, a handsome “prince” of a father, who was going to indulge her every wish, she met a regular man, who was often strict and demanding, a fifth floor walk-up apartment, her school a one room school house, taught by young, unlicensed teachers. Rita was thrown from a convent environment in Germany to Orthodox Jewish surroundings, expected to know how to read Hebrew and recite prayers from memory.
Her acceptance to the High School of Music and Art turned her new life around. She was encouraged to develop her musical ability and became part of a talented student body.Rita didn’t end up “living happily ever after” as she had hoped but did manage to make a good life for herself and her family. The mother of five children, she taught first grade in the Perelman Jewish Day School for twenty-seven years is now retired and is a frequent lecturer on her Holocaust experiences and the need for tolerance.
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