Local Holocaust Survivor Celebrates 103rd Birthday

PINEVILLE, NC — Holocaust survivor and author Frieda Ross Van-Hessen has a lot to celebrate this week. The Pineville resident rang in her 103rd birthday Tuesday night at Olive Garden, reminiscing about her life that began when Woodrow Wilson was president.

Van-Hessen, who was born in Holland and is of Jewish descent, had aspired to be an opera singer as a young girl, but those dreams crumbled when the Nazis invaded her country in 1940. The last memory she had of her parents was looking through a window and seeing German soldiers lead them away with bayonets at their backs to take them to Auschwitz concentration camp. She, however, evaded capture and remained in hiding during the war, living in a series of safe houses, she told the 700 Club.

“The most fearful part of the whole thing was actually that we were 24 hours not knowing what is going to happen next,” she said.”We were always whispering. We couldn’t trust anybody.”

Van-Hessen also shared her family’s story for the Shoah (Holocaust) Video Projects led by director Steven Spielberg and the USC Shoah Foundation in 1998. The restaurant contacted the USC Shoah Foundation and surprised Frieda by reading a birthday well-wishes letter to her sent directly from the foundation’s Executive Director Stephen Smith.

She also dined with Billy Graham Library Vice President Scott Holmquist, who led a blessing to start the festivities.

Watch: Frieda Ross Van-Hessen Describes Her Holocaust Experience

Photos courtesy of Kelly Cole