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Anita Pollack Schorr, 85, Holocaust Survivor From Westport

WESTPORT, Conn. — Anita Pollack Schorr, a Westport resident who survived the Holocaust and shared her story with groups across Fairfield County, died Thursday. She was 85.

Anita Schorr

Anita Schorr

Photo Credit: Anti-Defamation League of Connecticut

"It was with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Anita Pollak Schorr. Our community has lost a courageous woman," Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe said in a statement. "Anita was a Holocaust survivor and Westport resident since 1985. Although her entire family was killed by the Nazis and she herself was sent to the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, Anita lived to see the end of the war. She immigrated to Israel and was one of the first four women to serve in the Haganah, the precursor to the Israeli Defense Forces. 

"Anita made it her mission to tell the story of what happened to her and to the 6 million other Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis." 

Schorr often shared her memories with groups across the area.

"For the last 20 years that audience included Westport students. She also developed a program to help middle school teachers incorporate the Holocaust into their curriculums," he said. "On behalf of the Town of Westport, and as its First Selectman, I extend my condolences to Anita’s family and friends."

The funeral service for Schorr is set for 11 a.m. Sunday at the Abraham L. Green & Son Funeral Home, 88 Beach Road, Fairfield.

In an appearance at Temple Sinai in Stamford to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2012, Schorr told a crowd that she had survived three concentration camps from the age of 11 though 15.

Schorr recalled being trained through starvation to stay in line to get to her next meal. She knew that if she stepped out of line, she could be punished, beaten or even shot and killed. She said that she lived in constant fear for her life. Her nightmare ended when she was liberated from Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. 

Schorr extended a plea to the entire crowd: "“Please step in and be a hero. Don'’t let this happen again."”

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