Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Sara Giberstein; Costa Rica to Nazi Europe

Costa Rica News – The story of Sara Giberstein is one that should be told. She kept it to herself for her 86 years but now, with her daughter’s help, she is sharing her life story, which begins in Costa Rica.

Her family moved here from Poland but at some point had to go back because of a lack of work opportunities and missing the comforts of home.

Sara and her childhood friend, Samuel Rovinski, met again in 1972. They eventually married but the time between their childhood and marriage was anything but fairytale like.

Sara became a child victim of anti-Semitism during World War II. Although just 5 years old at the time, Sara remembers hearing bombs and running to the basement. They had to leave their apartment by order of the Nazis and hid out with 17 people in the basement of a family factory. The children were later sent secretly and separately to the outskirts where Catholic families would hide them until they felt the fear of a surprise visit by the Germans and she would have to flee again and be at the mercy of new strangers.

Her story in much more depth is written in “A Mountain of Sawdust,” “Una montaña de aserrín,” an absolute must read.

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