Eva Ruth Rosenfeld

Quiet and unassuming. Considerate. Eager to help. Smiling, kind, optimistic, and attentive. Thoughtful, sincere, dependable and loyal. Planner extraordinaire. These are just a few of the words that come to mind when thinking of Eva Rosenfeld. She was a shining model of selfless care, humility and deep love of family, friends and her community. Her greatest desire was to support others and be there in times of need.

Despite a desperate and dire flight from the German Holocaust and being orphaned at 13, Eva always had a kind word and consoling hug. She developed an inner strength and courage that shone through her supportive, caring approach to life, and served as an enduring example to everyone she touched. She had a surprising core of softhearted kindness and playfulness, seemingly unaffected by her traumatic childhood.

This past Saturday, November 28, 2020 we lost this incredible human being. She died peacefully in her sleep of dementia and old age. Her body finally gave out, after 93 years of giving love and sweetness to everyone around her.

The Torah (Old Testament) reading for this week, Vayeitzei, recounts a dream where Jacob sees a ladder, with angels alongside, between earth and heaven. An angel must have taken Eva’s hand this past Shabbat and guided her up the ladder. Now she is with her beloved husband of 70 years, her parents, her brother and her best friend, Julie.

Eva is survived by her 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 and one great grandchild, Ellen Eva Collier.

Eva was born in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in April of 1927. When she was just 9 her parents fled Nazi Germany to Italy. Her dad had lost his pharmacy, their home and most of their possessions, including a dollhouse Eva cherished. Somehow they managed to run a bakery in Genoa. Eva’s mother succumbed to the stress and a heart condition, and died at 36 (Eva was 12). Shortly thereafter, when the Nazis took over Italy, Eva and her dad were relegated to a small hill town in southern Italy. At one point, her father was rounded up by passing Nazi's troops, and put in prison. After his release, he was ordered to leave the country, which he did at night with a fisherman he paid to take him to France. After only a short time he was captured again by the Nazis and murdered on the train en route to Auschwitz.

All alone now, Eva was taken care of by friends of her parents, the Kleinmans’, in southern Italy, for four years. Then she was fortunate to get passage on the one refugee ship that Roosevelt’s administration authorized to enter the US. In fact, there has been a book, movies, and a museum dedicated to this journey. Eva’s photograph is among those depicting the refugee’s story at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. There was a recent NY Times story describing the circumstances, and Eva is called out in the article under her maiden name of Lepehne.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/nyregion/oswego-jewish-refugees-world-war-two.html

Eva landed in Fort Ontario, New York, near the town of Oswego. She met Eric, also a holocaust refugee, in nearby Rochester, NY in 1949, where they were married and started their family. Eva had a son, David, and two daughters, Vera and Emily, during their 6 years in Rochester.

Eric’s job moved them to Nashville in 1956, where they added another son, Ken. Eva raised all four kids with a steady, organized and sympathetic hand, along with endless brisket and amazing cakes, strudel and linzer torte. Once all the children were old enough, Eva went back to school to learn accounting, and became the bookkeeper for the West End Synagogue. She was always very detail-oriented and meticulous by nature, so bookkeeping was a great fit.

Eva shared publicly her holocaust/refugee experiences. In spite of the pain in reopening old wounds, Eva spoke about her heartbreaking childhood and the effects of propaganda and hate. Over many years, both she and Eric spoke at many schools, churches, military bases, and civic organizations. She captivated, educated, and inspired people to be more humane and understanding.

When Eric passed away in 2016 (60 years after moving to Nashville), Eva moved to Memphis to be with her daughters and grandkids. She lived with one of her daughters, Emily, and her son-in-law, Craig, who provided loving support for the past four years. And her caregivers, Marilyn and Janice, imparted wisdom and professionalism, delivering conscientious, attentive and tender care.

Eva was surrounded by family and friends who tried to give some measure of the love that Eva had always radiated like the sun radiates warmth.

Funeral Services/Burial in Nashville (Private and limited due to Covid-19):

2:00PM, Tuesday, December 1, 2020

A virtual memorial service will be scheduled in the future. Everyone who would like to reminisce about their experiences with Eva will have the opportunity.

If you would like to make a donation in Eva’s honor, here are three worthy causes that honor her life:

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.

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. Both Eric and Eva are Holocaust refugees.

Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation (https://www.alzinfo.org)

The Fisher Center lab at The Rockefeller University is one of the largest and most modern scientific facilities in the world dedicated to solving the puzzle of Alzheimer’s disease. Their mission is to understand the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, improve the care of people living with it, and find a cure. Their vision is working towards a future where Alzheimer’s is nothing but a memory.