In 1938, when she was 17 years old, she began studies at a trade school in Würzburg, a university town 25 miles away. She then got a job with the government doing clerical work in Ochsenfurt, the county seat. In the mornings she worked for the school board, and in the afternoons she worked for a lawyer who was the administrative head of police departments throughout the county. Her mother and father The mother was an English citizen; her father was German. Her father was living in England when they met. They married and settled in England, where Rosa’s older brother, John, was born. Shortly after World War I, the family moved to southern Germany. 

They stormed the homes of the Jewish people in the night, using their axes to chop through the doors and break the windows. They took or destroyed all the lovely things in these homes: silver, feather beds, beautiful quilts, even the food that had been so carefully preserved. Many Jewish men and boys were taken away in trucks. They were never seen again. 

During the night we took refuge along with 20 or 25 other people in the cellar of a neighboring farmer.