Rose Zar Was An Inspiration

There are so many inspirational women that we hear about, but one you might not have heard of is Rose Zar.  She was a Polish Jew who survived the Nazi invasion of Poland, by hiding in plain sight.  Prior to the war she earned her teaching certificate and was also a nurse, but was forced to find menial jobs, like scrubbing kitchens, peeling potatoes, and cooking in the kitchen of the local SS headquarters in Krakow.  Her father's advice to her had been to hide in plain sight.  That's exactly what she did.

To keep out of trouble, Rose learned to laugh at anti-semitic jokes that were told in the kitchen.  She also learned to speak perfect German.  So when she was called to the commanders headquarters (she thought they had discovered she was Jewish) and the wife of the commander took a liking to her, she was hired to work in their home for the remainder of the war.  Rose said, "You have to hide in the mouth of the wolf, under the officials nose, and watch that they don't devour you.

She worked as Fraulein Wanda in the home of an SS officer for the final years of the war.  After that, she came to America, and in 1983 wrote her memoir, "In the mouth of the wolf."  This inspirational woman saved her own life, and the lives of dozens of Jewish orphans.  She died recently in the U.S., where she lived after WW11.