Papi & Babi

Cernăuți · Tel Aviv · Satu Mare · Switzerland · Brooklyn · São Paulo · Boro Park · on the map

Papi and Babi

Chaim Yitzchak Rosner (1930–2016) and Chaya (Eva) Rosner née Freund (1931–2026)

Papi — Chaim Yitzchak Rosner — was born in Cernăuți (Czernowitz), then in Romania, on 14 March 1930 (the city’s birth register has 1929; every later paper has 1930), the younger son of Yeshayahu Aryeh (Saie Leib) Rosner and Chaya Reizel (Anna) née Pacht. The family left for Palestine in April 1939, and he grew up at 10 Zamenhoff Street in Tel Aviv. In February 1947, a seventeen-year-old student on a student visa issued in Jerusalem, he sailed from Haifa on the SS Al Sudan to New York, where his parents joined him; in 1950 the census found the three of them at 468 Crown Street, Brooklyn, his father the rabbi of a synagogue there.

Babi — Chaya (Eva) Freund — was born in Satu Mare (Szatmárnémeti) on 14 October 1931, the only daughter of Sender and Chana Freund to grow up. Her mother and her three younger brothers, Asher Yaakov, Moshe Aryeh and Yitzchak, perished at Auschwitz on 27 May 1944; her father survived in hiding. After the war she reached Switzerland by way of Prague, and in May 1949, at Bex-les-Bains, she wrote out her own short life story for the refugee organisation: her father a textile manufacturer, a brother, Nathan, in Tel Aviv, an aunt, Sarah Gelb, in New York. She sailed from Bremerhaven on the USNS General M. L. Hersey and landed in New York on 12 September 1950 — Rosh Hashanah 5711, the day the family remembers a cousin coming to meet her.

She was working in a clothing factory when Papi first saw her. They married in Brooklyn in 1951 (Kings County licence 13523), and about 1952 they went with Papi’s parents to São Paulo, where the Rosners built a business — a metals firm in 1953, then Rosner e Filhos Ltda and its successor, Panamer Indústria e Comércio Ltda, makers of lingerie — and where they lived for some twenty years before returning to Boro Park. Papi was a Viznitz chassid; in November 1995 he was the guest of honour at the Viznitz Melave Malka in Williamsburg, where he spoke about his father. Every year, for some fifty years, Babi travelled to her father’s grave in Satu Mare.

Papi died on 5 January 2016 (24 Tevet 5776) and Babi on Friday night, 17 July 2026 (4 Av 5786). They are buried side by side at Beth Moses Cemetery, Section 2, Block 18, Rows A and B, Grave 16. The side of Babi’s stone remembers her mother Chana bat Nachman and her brothers Asher Yaakov, Moshe Aryeh and Yitzchak.

Babi’s family remembered

The framed photograph of Sender and Chana Freund and their children

The family keeps a framed print of Sender and Chana Freund with their children in Satu Mare, taken before 1944, with each name written beneath. In the back row stand Yehoshua (Shea), Shmuel (Pilu) and Nachman; in front sit Asher Yaakov (Anshel), Zaide Sender Freund, Yitzchok, Babi (Chaya), Bobby Chana Freund and Moshe Aryeh. The label also gives the yahrzeits: Zaide Sender on 16 Cheshvan; Bobby Chana and her sons Asher Yaakov, Moshe Aryeh and Yitzchok on 11 Sivan; Uncle Pilu on Rosh Chodesh Shevat.

In Babi’s own words

From her oral history interview recorded in 2016 by Brad Zarlin, now at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (RG-90.063.1890). Each line was checked against the recording at the time given.

“I couldn’t go with my mother. I didn’t even know where my mother is. I was alone, and I was hoping that one day we’ll get together.”On 1944 — part 1, 65:15

“I was one in the room, but a tiny room, a tiny bed … I was alone. That I remember vividly.”On the cell where she was held, aged twelve — part 1, 66:04

“I was 13 years old, and I read books probably four, five or six times, the same books. But I was reading, and I was trying also to be very quiet.”Hiding in Buda — part 3, 10:19

“Hashem wanted me to survive, that’s it, that’s my answer.”Asked why she survived — part 2, 52:06

Annotated photographs

Tap a framed face for the name and the family card. Only people the family or the caption identifies are marked.

Also in this photograph, not marked because the caption does not say who stands where: Shmuel (Pilu) Freund (Babi’s brother), Yehoshua Freund (Babi’s brother).

Also in this photograph, not marked because the caption does not say who stands where: Chaya (Eva) Rosner née Freund (Babi — one of the two people this site is about).

The line in one chart

Direct ancestors of Papi and Babi, three generations, each box coloured by its grade (green Confirmed, amber Likely, dashed Possible). Tap a name for the card. All tree views.

The people of this chapter

Aharon Tzvi (Heshy) Taub Chaim Dovid Zwiebel Chaim Yitzchak (Chaim) Rosner 1930–2016 Chava Raiyla (Chavi) Taub Chaya (Eva) Rosner née Freund 1931–2026 Devora Miriam (Miriam) Kohn Ester Brana Breiner née Rosner Esther Shaindel Brecher Esther Zwiebel Faiga Chana Brecher née Rosner Fayga Nissel Leah (Leah) Zwiebel Fraida Rochel Zwiebel née Rosner Leah Breiner Malka Miriam Taub née Rosner Michael Breiner Mordechai Simcha (Mordy) Breiner Mordechai Yaakov (Yankel) Taub Moshe Nachman (Moishe) Taub Nachman Alexander (Sender) Breiner Nachman Alexander (Sender) Kohn Nachman Alexander (Sender) Zwiebel Nechama Breindy (Breindy) Taub Nochum Shimon Zwiebel Pinchas (Pinny) Taub Raizel Chana Kohn Raizel Sosha (Sosha) Zwiebel Sarah Etel (Sarah Ety) Zwiebel Shaul Aryeh (Steve) Kohn Shimshon Refoel (Shimshy) Brecher Shlomo Moishe Nachman Brecher Shmuel Dovid (Shmully) Taub Tuvia Gedalia Alexander Brecher Yaakov (Jackie) Breiner Yehoshua Menachem Zwiebel Yehudis Rivka Kohn née Rosner Yeshaya Aryeh (Shaya Laib) Zwiebel Yeshayahu Aryeh (Aryeh) Brecher Yisroel Dov (Dovi) Kohn Yisroel Sholom Yosef (Yossi) Taub Yosef Osher Gavriel Brecher

The research page for this line (updates, open leads)