Fanny Ross, nee Birnberg, was born in Gwozdziec, Poland on November 11, 1922. Her parents were farmers. She gives a brief description of her pre-war schooling and good relations with non-Jews before the war. Fanny describes the Jews being forced into ghettos and groups of children being taken to work on farms.1 During a deportation to a larger ghetto in Kolomyja, Fanny jumped from the cattle car. She explains in great detail how she managed to survive on her own, living on the streets, hiding in different places with Jews and non-Jews, including a group of nuns, never staying in one place for long. Her Jewish aunt who was also hiding as a Gentile hid her for several weeks and bought a fake birth certificate for her. She worked for an SS doctor’s family but had to leave because she didn’t have backup documentation proving her identity. Fanny survived several close calls while posing as a Gentile.
Fanny was able to find a number of jobs over a period of time because a German woman - Ellen Marie Niederman - took her in and got her more documents proving she was German. Fanny even passed an examination and a blood test by German doctors. Fanny went on a long vacation in Germany with Miss Niederman and again worked at a series of jobs.
Several months after the war was over, Fanny took steps to return to being Jewish. She met her future husband at a Jewish community Center in Konstanz am Bodensee. She emigrated to the United States in 1950.