One day in 1944 at the Birkenau concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, Ilse and Ruth Scheuer saw their father for the last time.
“You two are young, maybe you will survive,” Jakob Scheuer told them. He raised his hands toward their heads and, in a voice choked with emotion, gave them a Hebrew blessing:
“May God bless you and watch over you. May God shine His face toward you and show you favor.”
Mr. Scheuer was soon gassed. Ilse, 20, and Ruth, 17, were separated from their mother and never saw her again. Their brother, Ernst, died at another concentration camp, in Germany, shortly before the end of the war.
