Author: USC Shoah Foundation via YouTube
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After World War II ended, 16-year-old Holocaust survivor, Dora Josephson, attended Rosh HaShana (Jewish High Holiday) services with her mother. There, she met a married man, who decided to leave his wife for young Dora (despite Dora’s mother’s objections). Dora and the man wed, and they moved to Germany where they lived in a displaced persons camp. Given the option to move to Palestine or America, the couple chose America where Dora’s new husband had relatives.

For Dora, this was not a post-liberation love story. Dora’s much-older husband was physically and emotionally violent towards her and their children.

Finally, Dora divorced her husband – a courageous act that was practically unheard of during that time. Dora later met and married an American named George, who treated her with love and kindness, and encouraged her to succeed.

We often discuss post-Holocaust marriage stories as “happily-ever-after” romances. However, some women did not find “liberating” lives after liberation. It’s important to understand how some women end up in uncaring relationships after living through traumatic and unstable times – especially ones where they’ve lost their families (and, therefore, the urge to [re]build a family may be intensified).

Dora’s reclamation of her life during an era where this was taboo is inspiring, and reminds us that “love” involves encouragement to grow and succeed.

March is Women’s History Month in the United States.

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USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education develops
empathy, understanding and respect through testimony, using its Visual History Archive of more than 55,000 video testimonies, academic programs and partnerships across USC and 170 universities, and award-winning IWitness education program. USC Shoah Foundation’s interactive programming, research and materials are accessed in museums and universities, cited by government leaders and NGOs, and taught in classrooms around the world. Now in its third decade, USC Shoah Foundation reaches millions of people on six continents from its home at the University of Southern California.

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