Stefan Rozenfeld was born on March 7, 1934, in Łódź, Poland. He is the son of Abraham and Eugenia Rozenfeld. When the war began on September 1, 1939, Stefan was only 5 years old. In Łódź, his family owned a velvet ribbon factory. At the beginning of the war, the city's population of 672,000, included about 233,000 Jewish residents (one-third of the total). When the war began, Stefan and his mother, maternal grandparents, maternal uncle, his wife, and two family friends fled to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, where they all stayed together in an apartment, often relying on the basement as a bomb shelter. Realizing that they were not safer in Warsaw, they soon returned to Lodz.
Stefan’s father was not with them for the evacuation to Warsaw because he was on a business trip in Belgium when the war began. While stranded, his father found out that a Bolivian Consul General, stationed in Hamburg, Germany by the name of Daniel Bilbao, was issuing transit visas for those that can afford them. Abraham was able to secure the transit visas for his family allowing them to travel across borders in November of 1939. Ready to begin their journey to pick up the visas, Stefan developed appendicitis, detaining mother and son until January 18th, 1940. Once Stefan was healthy, they began their journey to the Consul General’s office in Hamburg. Eugenia and her son faced the biggest challenge: With her stars sewn inside her coat and her son only able to speak Polish, taking the train from Poland into Germany with their true religious identity hidden could be fatal. Stefan was instructed to not speak, for any Polish heard on the train that was patrolled by Nazi soldiers could raise unwanted attention.
Stefan and his mother made it safely to Hamburg, Germany and were able to pick up the transit visas from the Bolivian Consulate General that would allow them to travel within the Nazi regime. The Bolivian Consulate General in Hamburg was a key point of entry for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Bolivia was one of the few countries readily accepting large numbers of Jewish immigrants during this crucial period early in the war, and it allowed many to obtain visas for travel to South America, escaping the war. Eugenia and Stefan were accompanied by Estela Bilbao and her son, Jose, the wife and son of the Bolivian Consul, to the Belgian border. After 5 months, they were finally reunited with Stefan’s father, Abraham. Life was fairly good for the Rozenfelds, despite everything they had endured over the last few months, until Hitler and the Nazis invaded Belgium and Holland on May 10, 1940.
Because of the invasion, the Rozenfelds had to flee again, this time leaving Brussels for the coastal Belgian town of La Panne. Following a short time in La Panne, they made their way into France to reach the English Channel with hopes of obtaining English visas and escaping from there. Unfortunately, the Rozenfelds were denied visas to England, so they went to Paris instead where they spent a few days in May of 1940. Eventually, they made their way to the southern French city of Bordeaux.
While in Bordeaux, there was a glimmer of hope. Stefan’s father had heard that visas might be available at the Portuguese consulate for safe passage through fascist Spain into Portugal, which was a neutral country. Please note that while this was occurring, Hitler and the Nazi army was slowly advancing into France. The Rozenfeld family received their Portuguese visas on May 24, 1940 signed by the Consul General, Aristides de Sousa Mendes. In June of 1940, the entire family also received their American visas. At the time, the US quota was not allowing Poles, so Abraham had to use his Russian background to get the visas. The Rozenfelds reached the Portuguese border on June 23, 1940 and made their way to Lisbon. Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes was the Portuguese consul during WWII in Bordeaux. During his time, Portugal was a “neutral” country, but was really a fascist state supporting the Nazi regime under the rule of dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Under his rule, he issued the Circular 14 Declaration, which forbade his diplomats from issuing visas to Jews, Russians and other 'undesirables' for "the good of the nation". Sousa Mendes, in an act of defiance, began issuing visas to save as many people as he could thanks to the influence of his friend, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kruger. Shortly after, Sousa Mendes was arrested and found guilty of disobeying high orders during service, where he was stripped of his licenses, job and blacklisted from earning a living. He died in poverty and disgrace in 1954.
By the time the Rozenfelds reached Lisbon, their money had run out and because of the war, their other savings in a NY bank had been blocked. Luckily, they met Marilla Cole, a woman from upper Montclair, New Jersey, who was vacationing with her granddaughters. Mrs. Cole made the decision to lend the Rozenfelds money and treated them with kindness. It turned out that Mrs. Cole belonged to a family in the American diplomatic foreign service, which allowed her to gain passage for the Rozenfelds on a ship to America. On July 12, 1940, the ship carrying the Rozenfeld family docked in Hoboken, NJ. Stefan began first grade in September of 1940 in Queens, NY. When his teacher referred to him as “the refugee boy”, he quickly changed his name to “Stephen”, a more American name.
Stephen married Linda Schoengold on Jun 28, 1959. They settled in New Rochelle, NY where they raised their children; Julie, Laurie, Paul and Leah. In total, they had 11 grandchildren.
Stefan lived a wonderful and full life thanks to the visas signed by Aristides de Sousa Mendes and others along the way. He was one of the lucky ones. Only 4% of the Jewish people from Stefan’s hometown, Łódź, survived.
It was not until 2014, when Stephen received a phone call. On the other end of the call, he heard a thick accent. He was about to hang up, until he was addressed by his childhood name “Stefan”. The caller was Dr. Sylvain Bromberger, a Holocaust survivor and Board Member for the Sousa Mendes Foundation. He was reaching out because the organization had found the Rozenfeld family name in a visa registry book. Following that phone call, Stefan embarked on a journey to rediscover his past, 73 years after his arrival to the United States, thanks to a transit visa to Portugal signed by Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Stefan, his wife Linda, and their family delved into Abraham and Eugenia’s vast archives of letters and other documents to understand what had happened. The past soon became present. Mr. Rozenfeld’s story has a happy ending. But sadly, his uncle Piotr and grandmother Chaya were victims of the genocide carried out by Nazi Germany. In 2016, Stephen Rozenfeld and his youngest daughter, Leah, participated in the “Journey on the Road to Freedom,” a pilgrimage tour organized by the Sousa Mendes Foundation that retraced his family’s journey of survival where they met with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. On the last day of the trip, Stephen’s wife, Linda, and son, Paul, joined them at the synagogue in Lisbon. On stage, Stephen stood tall, shared his story of escape, and in front of everyone gathered, he announced proudly, “Call me Stefan!” Reclaiming his childhood name was an homage to his courageous parents and to the legacy of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Sousa Mendes was posthumously awarded. In 1966, he was recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among Nations”. In 1987, the Portuguese Republic began to rehabilitate Sousa Mendes’ memory, and he was granted the Order of Liberty medal, one of Portugal's highest honors. In 1988, the Portuguese parliament officially unanimously dismissed all charges and restored him to the diplomatic corps . He was promoted to the rank of Ministro Plenipotenciário de 2ª classe and awarded the Cross of Merit. The former Portuguese President Mário Soares declared Sousa Mendes to be "Portugal's greatest hero of the twentieth century." In 2010, the Sousa Mendes Foundation was established by the Sousa Mendes family, visa recipient families and supporters of the cause.
Stefan Rozenfeld died of complications of Covid on July 27, 2020, but his memory and the courageous actions of those lives on.
