Two sisters who survived the Holocaust as children and later immigrated to the United States died just days apart in their adopted state of Alabama.
Ruth Scheuer Siegler, 95, died on Saturday, according to the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. Ilse Scheuer Nathan, her sister, died ten days earlier at 98.
When Adolf Hitler came to power in the 1930s, the women were still in their teens and had been born in Germany. According to the centre’s announcement, the two women were inseparable after losing their parents and older brother in the Holocaust but surviving Nazi death camps themselves.
“They were always together,” Ann Mollengarden, education director for the Alabama Holocaust Education Center, told Al.com. “When Ilse died, I think Ruth was ready.”
According to a biography of the women, the girls were selected as workers at the Birkenau camp in early 1944 and separated from their mother, whom they never saw again. Their father was last seen at the camp, and their brother died in a German camp.
“The girls worked carrying bricks from one end of the compound to the other for hours at a time. Ilse sewed gun covers and uniforms as well. Working close to the crematory ovens, they saw the mountains of shoes. For the first time, they realized that their fellow prisoners were being killed and cremated,” the biography said.
In 1949, each woman married another Holocaust survivor. Ruth and Walter Siegler relocated to Birmingham in 1960 to join Ilse and Walter Nathan, who were already residents.
The Holocaust educators were widows who remained best friends until the end, living within walking distance of each other for years.
Ruth Siegler discussed the reasons for writing “My Father’s Blessing,” a memoir that included papers and photographs documenting her journey surviving the Holocaust, in a 2011 interview with The Birmingham News.
“I have all these memories,” she said. “I remember everything.”
Her sister Ilse came to see her during the interview. The sisters agreed that faith kept them going and helped them survive.
“I always say have faith and hope,” Ilse Nathan said. “We leaned on each other and prayed together.”
