160:. Born in Poland, she survived the Holocaust living in Germany under an assumed identity as a Catholic Pole. After the war, she resumed her studies and earned a medical degree at Munich Medical College, one of the only women and Jewish students to do so. She immigrated to the United States to join what family remained after the Holocaust, and practiced ophthalmology. In 2001, she published her memoirs,
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and Polish in the home and attended synagogue and celebrated holidays, but did not keep kosher, a source of conflict with Sabina's
Orthodox grandparents. Her father had a small coal business that struggled in the 1930s' depression, but an autodidact, he spent Saturdays taking his daughters for
263:. An opportunity arose to resume her education and she soon relocated to Munich, becoming one of a few women and Jews to attend Munich Medical School, completing her M.D. in 1950. For Szwarc, as with other Jewish student survivors, the postwar years were marked with what historian
224:. Szwarc's family friend and former schoolteacher, Kazimiera Justyna, a Roman Catholic, provided Szwarc's family with her own identification paper and those of her daughters, Danka and Mala Justyna. This allowed Szwarc, her sister, Helka, and her mother to masquerade as
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pastries and reading the cafes' free copies of
Yiddish and Polish newspapers. Her mother was an educated woman from an affluent Russian family, and both parents placed great emphasis on education. They had opposing politics, however, as Sabina's father was a
353:. One of the Polish Catholic daughters who allowed her to use her identification papers was jailed after the war for allegedly being anti-communist. Zimering sent her medication for tuberculosis and advocated for her release from jail.
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called "liberating abandon", with outdoor adventures, canoeing and scaling mountains, and participating in the broader trend of reappropriating former Nazi sites of note, for instance with student trips to
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in 1949 to join her siblings. In 1950, she married her former medical school classmate, Rueben
Zimering. The Zimerings lived in Minneapolis. They had six children. Rueben died in 2012.
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Maas, Susan (July 2004). "Physician's memoir inspires play at history theater. Sabina
Zimering, M.D., has found rewards in putting her holocaust memories into words".
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In her 70s, Zimering became a memoirist and traveled the United States to speak about the
Holocaust. At the insistence of her family, Zimering authored the book,
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After immigrating to the United States, she learned
English and earned a Minnesota medical license. She married Rueben Zimering and took the license exam on the
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After the war, Szwarc traded in her Polish identification papers to restore her identity and with
American support, she and her sister got an apartment in
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as her mother, despite the expense, insisted on giving her an education similar to what she had received; she graduated at 16 shortly prior to the
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Szwarc had not been especially religious before the war, and was even less so after, asking, "if there was a God, where was he?"
511:"'Hiding in the Open': Play based on Minnesota woman's memoir about hiding from the Nazis returns to the History Theatre stage"
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Student Health
Service for ten years. After her children became old enough to attend school, she worked there fulltime as an
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and escape to
Germany. The sisters worked as maids at hotels frequented by Nazi officers, including the Maximilian Hotel in
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236:. The mother was sent to a concentration camp and a daughter was almost executed. Szwarc's brother, Nathan, survived
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at school, with just a few Jewish students enrolled among
Germans who at times demonstrated resentment toward them.
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who hoped a reformed Poland would be a safe homeland for its Jewish residents, while her mother was more
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Sabina initially attended a Polish public school and though Jewish students were exempted from
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but witnessed their father die two days before liberation. Her mother was murdered in a
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The memoir was adapted to a play in 2004 by Hayley Finn and in 2010 by playwright
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patients. Zimering was a medical practitioner for 42 years. She retired in 1996.
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for three years. Kazimiera, Danka and Mala Justyna were caught as members of the
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lessons, she was bored by the free time and joined her classmates studying the
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honored the Polish sisters for risking their lives to save Zimering's family.
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Zimering opened her own ophthalmology practice where her proficiency in the
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In 2011, Zimering visited Poland to show her two daughters her life during
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367:. She died in her sleep on September 6, 2021, in her St. Louis Park home.
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family. She had a sister, Helka, and brother, Nathan. They lived in
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152:; February 24, 1923 – September 6, 2021) was a Polish-American
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545:"Sabina Zimering, Holocaust survivor and doctor, dies at 98"
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and top Nazi generals. Szwarc also dealt with isolation and
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Polish-American ophthalmologist and memoirist (1923–2021)
570:"Story untold for 50 years is finally revealed to class"
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and memoirist known for sharing her experiences during
291:of their first child. She worked part-time at the
476:"Dr. Sabina Zimering's memoirs come to the stage"
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435:The New Life: Jewish Students of Postwar Germany
172:Sabina Szwarc was born February 24, 1923, to a
164:, which has twice been adapted as a play.
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778:American people of Polish-Jewish descent
318:. North Star Press of St. Cloud. 2001.
220:That year the Szwarcs were sent to the
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128: 1950; died 2012)
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798:20th-century American women physicians
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316:Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Memoir
162:Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Memoir
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768:Polish emigrants to the United States
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631:"A hopeful tale from the Holocaust"
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656:Royce, Graydon (March 26, 2004).
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803:20th-century American physicians
437:. Wayne State University Press.
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684:"Marriage license applications"
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873:21st-century Polish physicians
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808:20th-century Polish physicians
716:. October 19, 1979. p. 13
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637:. April 17, 2015. pp. A4
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576:. April 29, 2001. p. 62
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299:for another ten years.
293:University of Minnesota
848:Writers from Minnesota
635:Marshfield News-Herald
480:Jewish Women's Archive
433:Varon, Jeremy (2014).
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272:'s former compound at
342:Szwarc immigrated to
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714:The Minneapolis Star
688:The Minneapolis Star
356:In 1979, Zimering's
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178:Piotrków Trybunalski
72:Piotrków Trybunalski
878:Jews from Minnesota
517:. February 26, 2010
597:Minnesota Medicine
349:Zimering lived in
210:invasion of Poland
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325:978-0-87839-171-4
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88:(2021-09-06)
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752:Categories
603:(7): 8–9.
371:References
261:Regensburg
168:Early life
64:1923-02-24
609:0026-556X
344:Minnesota
212:in 1939.
206:gymnasium
202:catechism
187:socialist
617:15311631
289:due date
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278:Gestapo
244:at the
191:Zionist
182:Yiddish
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150:Szwarc
110:Spouse
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743:Vimeo
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613:PMID
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