Why did it take seven armed men to ‘speak’ with one little girl?

Little Rose Brezcina had everything an 8-year-old girl living in the 1940s needed. Her extended family living in the same Vienna apartment building, summers on her uncle’s farm, and a cheerful spirit that brought joy into every experience. That spirit would soon be tested, though, as the Nazi army moved in and war came to her city. Before she would even reach her teens, Rose would lose her best friend, join an underground effort to hide Jews, and suffer repeated torture by a Gestapo determined to break her. And yet even though her home would be destroyed, her baby brother killed, and her mother kidnapped, Rose knew that God was with her and saw evidence of His faithfulness in the small things. As the struggle to survive got tougher, her spirit grew stronger. In the end, World War II proved to be no match for this courageous little girl from Austria.

Since 2012, speaker and author Gary Vawter has focused his efforts on capturing first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from survivors and their families. Gary is recognized for his work to educate and engage communities across North Texas about the onsets and realities of genocide with the goal of preventing future holocausts.