Hilde Beretz Smissman

Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation

I was born in Cologne, Germany in 1920. My parents owned a small business. We went to synagogue regularly. Our city was a friendly mix of Jews, Catholics and Protestants. It was customary for all of us to go to Christmas mass together, regardless of our faith. That all changed two days after Kristallnacht on November 11, 1938. My mother and I quickly left the city and were on the run until the end of World War II. My father had left for South America in 1936 in the hopes of making a better life for all of us. I learned later that he had died in Bolivia in 1942 from a deadly disease.

Hilde Smissman with her crocheted dolls

My mother and I were smuggled out of Germany into Belgium by farmers. We hid in large sacks, that were purported to be filled with grain. From there it was a non-stop race always trying to stay one-step ahead of the Nazis. In Belgium, my mother and I were separated but I kept running, from Belgium to Holland to Germany to France and back to Belgium. Once I was smuggling cheese and hopped on a train car to escape the Nazis. It happened to be Maurice Chevalier’s private car. He was very nice and let me stay there until we reached France. The Nazis never searched his car. You had to have guts to live that kind life, living alone, and looking for ways to earn money to live on the black market. I thought I would never see my mother again and assumed she was dead. It was only later that I happily discovered the French Underground saved her and we reunited through the Red Cross. In 1948, I arrived in New York, as a refugee from Germany on a United States Liberty Ship with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). I clearly remember the ship stopping in the middle of the ocean. Many of us had no idea why it stopped and our first reaction was that we were all going to die. Luckily, it only stopped to refuel. I ended up settling in Chicago. In 1952, I married my husband, Earl and we later moved to Miami. Muhammed Ali once said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” It is how I have tried to live my life. As a dedicated volunteer, I put in over 1500 volunteer hours at Douglas Gardens (now Miami Jewish Health Systems) in their

Psychiatry Department and at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Throughout the years, I have knitted and crocheted hundreds of dolls, kippot and pillows, which were donated to needy children. An ardent Zionist, I was involved with ORT Israel. I am a proud Life Member of Hadassah and have been a long-time donor of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. When my husband passed away, I updated my will to include those organizations I was most involved, namely the Greater Miami Jewish Federation through the Golden Care program, Miami Jewish Health Systems and Mount Sinai Medical Center as charitable beneficiaries.

Hilde Smissman celebrating her 100th birthday with Miriam Masia (left) and Mindy Tucker (right), Golden Care Directors

Hilde Smissman with very close friends Marian and Paul Kruss

Temple Beth Am AND Rambam Day School

Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5

Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online