Holocaust Survivor Meets Her Legacy: Jewish Babies

On the heels of National Holocaust Remembrance Day, an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor recently met the babies that are her legacy.

Rose Sowadsky will introduce her Jewish friends and neighbors at Berman Commons in Dunwoody Feb. 2 to some of the 32 infants and babies – and 17 on the way – that were created with the help of her granddaughter’s foundation.
Sowadsky’s granddaughter is Elana Frank, a 40-year-old Atlanta native who created the Jewish Fertility Foundation in 2015 after battling years of infertility.

JFF provides financial assistance, educational awareness and emotional support to Atlantans who have medical fertility challenges.

The inaugural JFF Baby Photoshoot at Berman Commons photographed 10 of its residents who are Holocaust survivors with 14 of the Jewish babies that are carrying on their legacy.

Lee Grogin is entertained by baby Hannah Pullman.

“I fled Nazi Germany in 1938 and my husband, Kurt Felsberg, tragically lost his parents in Auschwitz,” Sowadsky explained in a press release. “We eventually came to settle in Atlanta because my husband, a butcher, got a position at Arthur’s Kosher meat. We raised our children here in Atlanta. Turning struggle into triumph is a value you will find in many Holocaust survivor families, and it’s amazing to watch my granddaughter do exactly that. Because of her difficulties, she has brought 32 babies into the world – and counting.”

Of the photo shoot, Frank said, “Berman Commons is an ideal location to build an intergenerational community. Not only are some of the residents at Berman Commons Holocaust survivors, but many are the pioneers who contributed to the establishment and growth of Atlanta’s Jewish community. We feel that this photoshoot is symbolic of the continuity of the Jewish community of Atlanta, but also a symbolic stare-down of the persecution of the past.”