Life before the Holocaust
Before the Holocaust, the family owned a successful furniture factory. When the Nazis invaded Poland, Nazis would raid Jewish homes and take away anything of value. Valuables that the Nazis would confiscate would range anywhere from jewelry to furniture. Unfortunately, during that time, Sarah's family lost its furniture business and many of their personal belongings.
Above is a picture of the storefront of Aaron Greenfield's business. This business was located here in Massachusetts. After the Holocaust, Sarah Greenspan's brother, her only surviving sibling opened a family business just like his family had before the Holocaust. He owned and operated this business his whole life up until the age of 90.
At 16 years old Sarah was first impacted by the Holocaust. During this time the Nazis enforced many laws to prohibit Jews from living a normal life. One of these laws prohibited Sarah from continuing her education. The Nazis came to Poland and started to separate families. She was only 17 years old when she was separated from her family.
When the Nazis first started to deport and separate families they specifically targeted the very young and elderly. Sarah's mother knew that Sarah and her brother, because of their age, would not have a chance of survival. Their mother told the Nazis that Sarah and her younger brother Aaron were older than they were to help save her children. Each member of Sarah's family was separated and placed into different groups based on their age.