A respected leader in the Shreveport Jewish community, Bernard Rosenfeld has written a memoir about WWII, and his daughter, Nancy Rosenfeld, shares his story.

Book recounts life of Jewish survivor of WWII

Former Shreveporter Nancy Rosenfeld shares an astonishing story in her latest book about her father and his legacy of loss, resilience and the will to continue.

The historical memoir is titled “50 Cents for a Life: A True Story of Surviving by Synchronicity.”

The North Louisiana Jewish Federation is sponsoring Nancy’s visit on Sunday, Dec. 14, at Agudath Achim Synagogue, 9401 Village Green Drive, from 3 to 5 p.m. A question-and-answer session and book signing are part of the activities. The event is free, but please RSVP to Barbara@jewishnla.org. A fun and joyful Hanukkah festival follows on the holiday’s first night.

Bernard Rosenfeld was a highly respected leader in the Shreveport Jewish community, a business owner and self-taught artist who miraculously escaped the horrors of WWII Europe.

At 17, Rosenfeld left Lithuania during the early, panicked days of World War II. It was 1939. The youngest of six, 17 family members would later be murdered. For almost 50 years, he spoke not a word, fearing an explosion of grief.

One day in 1987, from his longtime home in Shreveport, he mailed a secret manuscript to his four daughters — a riveting account of escape, loss and survival that changed everything. He painstakingly exposed the simple village life, chaos of borders closing, his miraculous route to America and shock as a non-citizen drafted into the U.S. Army ordered to return to Europe.

He served at the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, where Gen. George Patton arrived injured. Rosenfeld recalls running out “to help move this mighty chief from the ambulance stretcher to a hospital bed.” He was very large, tall and heavy, with a shaved head. Reports of a Jeep accident were overheard. Everyone was hustling around the famous leader, feeling the significance of this memorable moment. “On Dec. 21, 1945, Patton, the greatest general of our time, died there and was wheeled down to a makeshift morgue in the hospital basement,” Rosenfeld wrote.

It might have made more sense to keep Patton in Room 110, where he died. Still, the humiliation of his body being stored in a stall is nothing compared to the grisly spectacle that will unfold if a photograph of the dead general’s body is splashed across the front pages of newspapers worldwide, Rosenfeld added.

He searched for his family through decades of correspondence. Astonishing discoveries unfolded as his artistic gifts soothed emotions onto canvas. He has been featured at the Norton Art Gallery, Meadows Museum, Artport and the old Neon Saturday Nights downtown, as well as in Centenary College’s artist groups.

Nancy felt compelled to illuminate a broader picture surrounding the danger of her father’s escape and family’s fate by hunting through WWII timelines and locations and tracing facts alongside his raw and innocent storytelling. “The first half of the book is his voice, entwined with my research of relevant WWII timelines. The second half of the book is my voice, bringing the reader into his unyielding hunt for truth and self-peace,” she said.

Shreveport played a significant role in his life, as he lived here from 1946 to 2007, initially at Centenary Terrace for $38 a month after his marriage to Dorothy, and later on, at Shadywood Lane. Nancy graduated from Captain Shreve High School. When Rosenfeld passed in 2018, living in Houston, he and her mother in 2021 were brought back to Shreveport for burial. Nancy plans to visit the cemetery before her talk.

Bernard Rosenfeld was born in 1922 in the rural village of Raseiniai in central Lithuania. His home country shares borders with Poland, Latvia and the Baltic Sea. Lithuania is the size of West Virginia. Rosenfeld had to pay to attend high school.

Rosenfeld created the book’s title, but the meaning won’t be revealed in this story so as not to spoil it. Basically, a miracle happened, and 50 cents saved his life. “God must have wanted me to live,” he wrote. “I don’t know why I was protected, especially after turning against God when my father died.” Rosenfeld was 5 when his father passed away at 49 on the sixth night of Hanukkah.

Shortly after arriving in America after a comforting reunion with uncles in Mineral Wells, Texas, they stopped in Shreveport to visit a cousin, Lil Spitzer, and her husband. Rosenfeld thought Shreveport looked beautiful in stark contrast to the cold landscape of St. Louis, where he settled.

He recalled times with Lithuanian friends coming over to joke, play cards and ice skate on frozen lakes, but had no one to share that with.

The book states that writing the manuscript was a cathartic act of healing for him. He also enjoyed gardening and was passionately devoted to serving his synagogue.

Given an award by the synagogue in 2004, it was stated that no item does not bear the imprint of Bernard. He knows every brick and bush, rule and regulation, dues and debts, members past, present and potential, fridge and freezer, kitchen and cooking utensils, heater, humidifier and air conditioner, light and lamp post. His oil paintings adorn the walls. He has occupied every executive position on the board. Nothing escapes his attention. The synagogue is very much part of his being.

He also had the occasion to speak at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C, and to unite with matched survivors from Raseiniai in 2000.

Says Nancy, “I’m not sure if it was truly coincidence, sacred synchronicity or triggered by my father’s speaking engagement, but, in early October 1999, less than two weeks prior to his trip, a letter arrived in Shreveport from the Assistant for Registry of Holocaust Survivors at the museum in Washington, D.C. The letter stated that his correspondence from 1998 had been received, and after searching their official Registry, six survivors from Raseiniai had been discovered, for whom they had a current address. For privacy reasons, the museum could not disclose address information; however, in some cases, they agreed to serve as a third party to forward information on the requester’s behalf.”

After a long career in finance, consulting with leadership teams and speaking nationally on the topic of initiating change, Nancy is the author of six nonfiction works that explore transformation and authenticity. She’s a former CFO and strategic planning consultant, now a national speaker, author and artist enjoying life in Maui, Hawaii.

“It’s very meaningful to return to the place so important to my father’s life and heart,” Nancy said. “He loved the community.” She said she and her sisters were taken to the symphony, the theater and the ballet. Rosenfeld owned Southern Gifts and Fashions and worked six days a week. The sisters were taught to volunteer and give back, not passively but actively.

“Part of the mission of the North Louisiana Jewish Federation is to offer social and educational opportunities, and we are especially excited when one of those programs features a Shreveport native,” said Barbara Joseph, executive director. “Nancy was the first female in her synagogue with the honor of being called to the Torah to make the traditional blessing before it is read. We are proud to be able to host Nancy for this author event, which allows more people to learn about her father’s powerful story and to see his art.”

Melinda Kent, who has read the book, said, “There are so many things about that book. One, he was under God’s protection. There’s no doubt you could just call him lucky, but I think he was under God’s protection. He had such a grateful attitude and a lot of people who endure that horror never got through it. He had a can-do, happy kindness about him that endured throughout his life, and we can learn from that because when we think we have a bad day, we do not even understand what that could really mean for other people. So I want to count myself as a grateful person, but I’m really trying to be more so after reading that book.”

Nancy’s website is www.50centsforalife.weebly.com. For more information, contact NancyRAloha@gmail.com. Link to the registration page: https://jewishnla.regfox.com/nljf-nancyrosenfeld-event “I am learning from readers by their reviews that they are touched and informed, to have hope and perseverance to hang on no matter if the path seems impossible, and to forge a better future together,” Nancy said. She added that those who have no connection to Judaism or war have enjoyed the book.