Eric Rosenfeld

Eric Rosenfeld, of Nashville Tennessee, died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes at 9:30 pm on Monday, November 7, 2016. He was 91 years old. Eric is survived by his wife, Eva Ruth, his four children David (Anne), Vera Feldman (Jess), Emily Collier (Craig) and Ken (Debby), as well as seven grandchildren: Tamara Rosenfeld, Julie Feldman Algiere (Steve), Will Feldman, Nathan Collier (Amy), Eli Collier, Ryan Rosenfeld, and Zack Rosenfeld.

Eric was born in Seeheim, Germany. When he was 16, he was able to escape Nazi Germany in a children’s transport rescue. This brought him to safety in the US, where he was able to join his brother Herbert (1922-2011).

When he was 18, he joined the Army and was then sent back to Germany, where used his German fluency to interrogate captured Nazis. He would recount the story, after Germany surrendered, of how he took the mayor of his hometown for a ride in his jeep. He asked about the rounding up of the Jewish residents, including his mother, for transport to Auschwitz. Eric could have shot the mayor and no one would have questioned the incident. But he realized that action would have put him at the same heinous and inhumane level as the Nazis, so he spared the mayor’s life.

He met Eva, also a holocaust refugee, in Rochester, NY in 1949, where they were married and started their family. Eric’s job moved them to Nashville in 1956, where they have lived since that time. Over the years, he took Eva on trips around the world so that they could have meaningful and exciting experiences together. They celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary in August.

Despite the traumatic experience in Germany, Eric always held on strongly to his Jewish faith, and was consistently involved in local Jewish activities and causes. Since he was not able to have a Bar Mitzvah due to the war, he dedicated himself to the task of intense learning and practice in order to finally conduct and celebrate his Bar Mitzvah at the tender age of 83!

And in spite of the pain in reopening old wounds, Eric spoke about his heartbreaking childhood and the effects of propaganda and hate. Over many years, he and Eva spoke to many schools, churches, military bases, and civic organizations. He captivated, educated, and inspired people to be more humane and understanding. In addition, he contributed his talents, energy, time, and ideas developing and carrying out programs and events for the benefit of the greater Nashville community.

Eric was a man who worked tirelessly to give his family everything they needed to thrive, including sending all four of his children to college. He loved taking his children on frequent educational and adventurous field trips around town. Eric was a big believer in family vacation road trips; all six family members were often stuffed into a Rambler station wagon headed to Florida or the Smoky Mountains in the summertime.

He was loving, compassionate, intellectual, strong, open-minded and courageous. He had a quick, wry sense of humor and a loud and infectious laugh. His great joy was to be engaging and engage with others. He had a unique gift of listening intently and always being in the moment. People knew that he honestly strove to understand them and appreciate what they had to say. He relished learning about others and their life stories.

Eric loved words and knew every word in the dictionary. As you might guess, word and board games were played frequently in his household. If you could beat him in Scrabble, it was quite an extraordinary feat. Eric- to know him was to love him.

If you would like to make a donation in Eric’s honor, here are three worthy causes that all touched his life:

Tennessee Holocaust Commission (http://www.tennesseeholocaustcommission.org)

The mission of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission is to educate Tennesseean about the history of the Holocaust, seeking to remind citizens that prejudice, hatred, and violence, as manifested in the Holocaust and other genocides, leads to the destruction of a humane society. Eric was active locally and with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission. Both Eric and Eva are Holocaust refugees.

•Safe Haven Museum (http://safehavenmuseum.com)

The Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum is dedicated to keeping alive the story of the 982 European refugees who were allowed into the United States as “guests” of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Holocaust in World War II. They were temporarily housed at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York from August 1944 – February 1946. Eva Rosenfeld was one of those refugees.

•West End Synagogue (http://www.westendsyn.org)

Eric and Eva are lifetime members of West End Synagogue in Nashville, TN. Eva worked for many years at the synagogue as their bookkeeper.