Ania Cichopek
I'm so terribly sorry for your loss... Rosalie, or Rozia, as I called her, became such a close friend of mine over the last ten years. I met her back in 2016 when I was looking for testimonies of survivors about their experiences of emigration after the Holocaust. She turned out to be such an incredible interlocutor; intelligent, sharp, and witty. Although our conversations stirred all kinds of difficult memories for Rozia, she showed no bitterness, no sense of grievance. When I met her, she had already been seventy-odd years away from Poland, and yet her command of the Polish language was impeccable! I think she enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed her, because we quickly became phone pals, chatting once a month for years. I loved her humor. I loved it when she sang prewar Polish songs to me. I loved her bright mind and optimism, and her joy of life no matter what... And how she always loved talking dirty politics :) I will always remember her laughter and her singing... I will miss our phone calls. I loved her dearly.