Susie Sherman

1935-

“The majority of the family said that we should wait this thing out. My father made the decision – which is why I am here today – that his family of four would leave.” – Susie Sherman

Susie (Rindler) Sherman, born in 1935, grew up in a small town near Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary), Czechoslovakia. In the Munich Agreement of 1938, Hitler was allowed to annex the Western third of the country, and by the end of the year, the Nazis had seized Susie’s family’s business.

Susie’s father and uncle, anticipating the worst, made arrangements to leave the country. They traveled from Karlsbad to Bardejov, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), back again through Prague, through German towns with the help of Quakers, onto Holland, and finally to England. Taken in by the Lord and Lady Cotesloe, the family stayed in England until they were able to immigrate to America in 1943. The rest of the family was deported to the camps of Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Treblinka, or Maly Trostinec. All perished in these camps except one uncle, Karl Rindler who survived Auschwitz. The uncle that had left with Susie’s father died in an accident in England. Susie’s immediate family of 4 and her Uncle Karl were the only survivors of the family.

Susie’s family was sponsored by a family in Seattle. While her parents got jobs, Susie says her job, “was to be good and not cause any trouble.” When Susie started school in Seattle, she spoke very little English and, “I got in trouble a lot because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.” She graduated from the University of Washington and began a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist working with schools. Susie married and raised three children in Seattle, where she continues to live. Susie shares her story as part of the Holocaust Center’s Speakers Bureau.

Transcripts for Video Clips – Susie Sherman

Video Testimony – Susie Sherman

Waiting it Out

Documents to Leave

Marbles

Living with the Lord and Lady

Terezin

Why Do You Tell Your Story?

Full Testimony (2009)

Photo Gallery – Susie Sherman

S. Sherman Gallery 1

Susie's grandparents, Ida and Leopold Zentner. Leopold was a decorated war veteran of WWI.

S. Sherman Gallery 2

This photo captures the last time the Rindler family was together, 1939. Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia. Front row (left to right): Susie's mother Emma (wearing a coat that she later hid money in the seams), cousin Peter (died in Auschwitz), sister Eva, and Susie. Back row (left to right): Susie's father Rudy, Aunt Valerie (died in Theresienstadt), grandfather Richard (died in Theresienstadt), person in costume, grandmother Anna (died in Theresienstadt), uncle Leo (died in England in a work accident).