Upstander Profile-Susan Warsinger

Name: Susi Hilsenrath (now Susan Warsinger)

DOB: May 27^th, 1929

Age: 81

Susi Hilsenrath was born on May 27^th, 1929 in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. She was the eldest of three children. She had two little brothers, Joseph and Ernest. When the Nazi’s took over Germany in 1939, the Nazi’s brought along with them an event called, Kristallnacht. Susi (now Susan) recalled, “It was on the eve of my mother’s birthday, and my brother and I were so excited about my mother’s birthday. It was about 10-11 O’ clock at night”. What Susi witnessed was indeed Kristallnacht. Then, Germany was officially in peril. Susi’s father heard from a woman who was sheltering children. Like Renee Kann (now Silver) in the previous chapter, Susi’s father also had to pay a fee for his children to be sheltered, but unlike Renee, it would not be at Le-Chambon. Instead of being hid in Le-Chambon, Susi and her brother, Joseph were smuggled into France and then evacuated from a children’s home. Like Peter Feigl, Elisabeth Kaufmann and Klaus Langer, Susi also wrote a diary that she would donate to the USHMM. Her diary would consists of what her journey would be like and how much she wished to be over in the US with her parents and baby brother, Ernest. Her parents were lucky enough to get visa’s to immigrate to the States so early in the war. The children were then smuggled to the States from Portugal. Susi and her brother Joseph would take a ship to get to the States. They arrived at Ellis Island. Unfortunately, before they got to get off the ship, Joseph had developed a terrible rash (from eating way too much Pineapple). But, they did get off the ship and meet their parents and Ernest (who at this time was still a baby). Susi would then complete school and according to Susi, “I went to school and did not feel safe.” She would learn the English language and when she married, she finally, felt safe. Today, Susi (now Susan Warsinger) keeps herself involved with the USHMM by being a Survivor volunteer and speaking at the Museum for the “First Person” series. Today, she is 81 years of age and still volunteering at the USHMM.