Two Holocaust survivors wrote each other letters for decades. Now they're being shared with the world

Jack Sutton · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 07, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

After her parent passed distant successful 2011, Goldie Morgentaler was going done a postulation of aged papers and documents erstwhile she recovered letters, written successful Polish implicit much than fractional a century, betwixt her parent and a puerility friend, Zenia Larsson.  

“They were successful Auschwitz together, they were successful a forced labour campy together, they were successful Bergen-Belsen together,” said Morgentaler, a prof emerita astatine the University of Lethbridge.

The correspondence, lasting decades, reveals the experiences of 2 women starting anew successful abstracted countries aft surviving the Holocaust together.  

Morgentaler is the girl of Chava Rosenfarb, a Polish-born Jewish pistillate and Yiddish-language writer who moved to Canada aft surviving the horrors of the Nazi camps.  

Jewish London is hosting a speech connected Nov. 13 featuring Morgentaler, who volition sermon the correspondence betwixt the 2 women, who survived the Holocaust unneurotic and some went connected the person salient literate careers.

“I expected to find immoderate grounds of trauma successful the letters, but not rather the mode I recovered it.”

Goldie Morgentaler is the girl of Chava Rosenfarb and Henry Morgentaler, some survivors of the Holocaust. (Submitted by Goldie Morgentaler)

After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the 2 women went their abstracted ways — Rosenfarb to Canada via Belgium, and Larsson to Sweden, wherever she would yet people her ain publication astir the letters successful 1972.

Sharing details of their lives with each other, it was wide they experienced a benignant of “general malaise,” Morgentaler told CBC News. 

A almighty illustration was a missive successful which her parent describes swimming astatine the formation years aboriginal and abruptly seeing the faces of radical who had died backmost successful Poland, she said.  

Chava Rosenfarb with her husband, Dr. Henry Morgentaler. (Submitted by Goldie Morgentaler)

There were besides happier revelations that amazed Morgentaler, including the emotion her parent expressed for her father, termination rights advocator Dr. Henry Morgentaler, who was besides a survivor.

The matrimony was ever difficult, she recalled, with her parent spending years penning astir the horrors of the past, portion her father, conversely, longed to hide it — an illustration of the antithetic ways radical process trauma.

Morgentaler edited the letters into a book, titled Letters from the Afterlife: The Post-Holocaust Correspondence of Chava Rosenfarb and Zenia Larsson. She volition beryllium discussing the publication astatine the Jewish London lawsuit arsenic portion of Holocaust Education Month, marked successful November each year.

'It's truly similar getting to cognize these people'

Sonia Halpern, an creation past teacher astatine Western University, volition beryllium facilitating the treatment with Morgentaler. She brought the thought to Jewish London aft she precocious heard Morgentaler talk successful the United States.    

Halpern was fascinated erstwhile she heard astir the 2 women, she said successful an interrogation connected CBC’s Afternoon Drive.

“It's truly similar getting to cognize these radical arsenic friends,” she said. “I consciousness that adjacent to them erstwhile I work astir them, erstwhile I americium engaged with each of their emotions and trauma.” 

Often radical deliberation astir the acquisition of the camps and the ensuing liberation, she said, but not arsenic overmuch astir what it feels similar to similar to transportation those memories done the years that followed. 

Sonia Halpern heard Goldie Morgentaler springiness a speech astir the letters and approached Jewish London with the thought of inviting her to talk during Holocaust Education Month. (Submitted by Sonia Halpern)

The Holocaust is often told done the position of men, portion these letters springiness penetration into however 2 women survived it unneurotic and however they handled it aboriginal successful life, Halpern said.

“It's truthful important for the Jewish assemblage to beryllium alert of each types of Holocaust experiences,” she said.  

Morgentaler said she hopes the letters animate radical to larn much astir the Holocaust, particularly astatine a clip erstwhile the Jewish assemblage is experiencing expanding antisemitism.

“I privation radical to beryllium alert of what the survivors went done and besides however they adjusted to beingness afterwards, and the benignant of resilience that they had due to the fact that some my parent and Zenia ended up successful countries wherever they didn't cognize the culture, they didn't cognize the language,” Morgentaler said.

Eventually, with time, they adjusted to their lives successful their caller homes, she said.

Morgentaler volition beryllium discussing the letters and her publication successful much item astatine the Jewish London lawsuit connected Nov. 13. It is taking spot virtually and those wishing to be tin registry by email.