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Photos by Lexi Coon.
Rosemarie Reinhard Musso spoke about living through World War II and the Holocaust during the annual Vestavia Hills Beautification Board's annual Dogwood Luncheon on April 5, 2018 at the Vestavia Hills Country Club.
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Photos by Lexi Coon.
Rosemarie Reinhard Musso spoke about living through World War II and the Holocaust during the annual Vestavia Hills Beautification Board's annual Dogwood Luncheon on April 5, 2018 at the Vestavia Hills Country Club.
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Photos by Lexi Coon.
Rosemarie Reinhard Musso spoke about living through World War II and the Holocaust during the annual Vestavia Hills Beautification Board's annual Dogwood Luncheon on April 5, 2018 at the Vestavia Hills Country Club.
April 5 is Rosemarie Reinhard Musso’s older sister’s birthday. It’s also the day her home in Germany was bombed during World War II.
She and her family were eating dinner one evening when a grenade was thrown through the dining room window. It narrowly missed her mother’s ear, and they ran to the basement, where they stayed when air raid sirens began. Reinhard Musso said her mother was well prepared for her sister’s birthday, and the cake was there, waiting.
“We all thought we were going to die … but, we thought, before we die, we’ll eat this cake first,” Reinhard Musso said. She said by the grace of God, the bomb in their area narrowly missed their house and landed in the backyard. “So I never forget my sister’s birthday,” she said.
Reinhard Musso, who was the guest speaker at the Vestavia Hills Beautification Board’s annual Dogwood Luncheon on April 5, continued her story about living through World War II and the Holocaust.
She is the second youngest of eight children in her family, and lived in the village of Sterbfritz in Hessen, Germany.
Adolf Hitler had risen to power, which Reinhard Musso attributed to his “charismatic” character and his idea to bring change to Germany. Reinhard Musso said no one in Germany suspected the Holocaust would be a part of that change.
“He came to power and he brought torment and destruction to the Jewish people,” Reinhard Musso said.
Her father — who Reinhard Musso described as strict — was a dentist who served the local community. He practiced on nearby residents, but the Nazis would bring Jewish workers from the nearby coal mines to demand he pull their teeth due to a gum infection. But, he was forbidden from using general anesthetic and medications on the Jewish patients, Reinhard Musso said.
Her father put on a front for the officers, telling them he doesn’t have room for the Jewish patients in the main office and sending them to his basement where he would “get you later,” Reinhard Musso said.
“But once the Jews came in our basement, my father had someone there to take care of them and to medicate them,” Reinhard Musso said.
Eventually, the Gestapo learned of her father’s actions, and presented him with a summons to be executed.
“Hitler didn’t believe in court; he just killed you,” Reinhard Musso said.
Her father went to a patient of his, a baroness who Reinhard Musso said was influential, and asked her for her help in refuting the order. She contacted a friend who was a general at Hitler’s headquarters in an attempt to save him and his family, stating she had a gum disease that could only be treated by Reinhard Musso’s father.
The execution orders were cleared shortly thereafter, but Reinhard Musso said it was still “constant fear.”
“ … It was not too long, Hitler didn’t stop, the Nazis didn’t stop, and … the Nazis were going to hang our whole family,” she said. “We were supposed to be hung on a tree.”
On the day Reinhard Musso and her family were set to be hung, American troops began taking over the area and patients of her father’s urged them to go to the “Reinhard House.” She said they didn’t waste any time.
“The American troops saved our lives from hanging … just a few hours before,” Reinhard Musso said.
Reinhard Musso’s family survived, and she said her father also helped save many Jews throughout the war, some of whom later reached out and thanked him.
She later moved to the United States in 1961 and became a citizen in 1977, as she had always dreamed of doing. She worked in ministry, is now practicing law as a family lawyer and has since published a book, “Father, Forgive Them — The Four Laws of Forgiveness,” about her life experiences.
You can learn more about Reinhard Musso and her book at fatherforgivethem.com.