Sara (Rozen) Hauptman was born in Laskarzew, Poland in 1918. When she was still an infant, her parents fled the organized attacks on Jews in Poland (pogroms) to more religiously tolerant Belgium. As a young woman, against her mother’s wishes, Sara eloped to Antwerp in 1938 with a tailor, Nathan Hauptman, a friend of her older brother. They moved to Brussels and nine months later on April 20, 1939, Sara gave birth to their son, Guy.
After the defeat of Poland by the German army in September 1939, the Polish government-in-exile regrouped in Paris. Polish officials sent draft notices to their citizens living in other European countries. A few weeks later, Nathan boarded a train for Paris, and Sara followed him. She carried four-month-old Guy, four bottles of milk, and a suitcase. In 1941, Sara was arrested on suspicion of aiding downed allied pilots. She was imprisoned for eight months then released. In 1942, Sara gave birth to their daughter, Monique, and soon after went to work for the Belgian resistance, where her cover was as a lion tamer in the circus. She entrusted her children with her nanny, as she believed this would be safest for them.
Sara was eventually discovered, arrested, and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was tattooed with the number A24130. Sara survived almost three months at Auschwitz. She became a sterilization victim of the infamous doctor Josef Mengele, who conducted heinous experiments on Auschwitz prisoners. From there Sara, along with other prisoners, was forced to march to Dachau concentration camp, where she was liberated by the American army in 1945. She was also reunited with her husband in Dachau. They returned to Brussels and were reunited with their two children. Sara had lost her mother and three brothers in the Holocaust.
The Hauptmans immigrated to the United States in 1951 and moved to El Paso, Texas. Five years later they became U.S. citizens. Years later, Sara began sharing her survival story and eventually reached thousands of school children, educators, military personnel, and community members. Sara died in December 2014.
Connecting Stories: Guy Hauptman, Monique Hauptman, Nathan Hauptman