Roman Haller survived the Holocaust and subsequently spent his entire life in Germany. Today, the 81-year-old is worried about his country. Christians Standing with Israel (CSI) visited him in Munich.
By Dana Nowak
That Roman Haller is alive is a miracle. He doesn't know the exact day of his birth. It must have been between May 7th and 10th, 1944. He first saw the light of day shortly before the end of the Second World War in a wooded area near Tarnopol, in what is now Ukraine. His parents and ten other Jews were hiding there. A baby, with its potential crying, would endanger the entire group, so a vote was taken to decide whether it should live. And Roman Haller was allowed to live.
“I am grateful to God for this life; I lacked nothing. I was lucky,” says Roman Haller, 81 years later, in his apartment in Munich. He retired a year ago, but he is still active. He gives talks at schools about the Holocaust and writes letters to editors and politicians. Roman Haller writes about what worries him. He knows his country well—Germany after the war, the economic miracle, Germany during the Cold War and after reunification, and Germany today. And it is about this present-day Germany that he is concerned.
“I’m seeing things that make me wonder, where are we headed? A few months ago, I was walking from a pro-Israel demonstration here in Munich to my car. On the way, I passed a pro-Palestinian demonstration. I joined them to see if we could start a conversation. I didn’t dare say that I’m Jewish. One of the participants approached me and said, ‘What do you infidels actually want? It’s only a matter of time before we’re in the majority, and then Sharia law will be introduced here.’ To be honest, my jaw dropped. I see things coming our way that worry me. And I see how incredibly naive we are.”
Germany is naive not only regarding developments within its own borders, but also concerning the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. "Europe has poured billions into Gaza hoping that infrastructure would be built, schools would be established, and investments would be made in the country. But what has happened? Hamas has built tunnels, weapons, and rockets. They have used the funds to support the families of so-called martyrs. In the end, it all led to October 7th."
Roman Haller can't really explain this naivety. "We've lived in peace for almost 80 years. Perhaps this feeling of security leads to naivety. And perhaps people are also naive because they simply want to believe in the good." Everyone makes mistakes, but the worst part is that no one learns from them. "To this day, money is still being transferred to Gaza, even though it's known that UNRWA is infiltrated by Hamas members who are siphoning off funds."
Haller is critical of the media's contribution. "Take the almost daily reports about the Gaza Strip. I feel sorry for the innocent people there. But how is it being reported? The context is no longer explained, October 7th is hardly mentioned anymore. You hear almost nothing about the hostages. This imbalance in the reporting fuels antisemitism."
Roman Haller's Plan B
And so Roman Haller is worried not only as a German citizen, but also as a Jew. "I don't want the same thing to happen to me as happened to the Jews back then, who thought it wouldn't be that bad." That's why he also has a plan B. "I always used to say I would leave the country if I no longer felt protected by the justice system and the police. Actually, that time has come. I should already have my bags packed. And yet, they keep raising the bar. Taking that step isn't easy. But we also have an apartment in Israel; we can go there anytime."
Roman Haller has not personally experienced antisemitism in Germany. When he's out and about, he's not identifiable as Jewish – he doesn't wear a kippah or any Jewish symbols. But a mezuzah, a capsule containing verses from the Torah, hangs on his doorpost. "There's another Jewish woman living in this house. She's now removed her mezuzah from her door. I told myself that the day I felt compelled to remove the mezuzah, I'd leave. I'm not prepared to hide my Jewishness out of fear."
"October 7th was a Holocaust"
Then Roman Haller pulls out a book: "Unfathomable Miracles | Conversations with Holocaust Survivors in Germany, Austria, and Israel." His own life story is also recorded there. "Even back then, after 2015, I spoke about the possibility that there would be another kind of Holocaust someday. What we experienced on October 7th was a Holocaust, even if not on the same scale as the Holocaust we know. But in terms of brutality, it surpassed what happened during the Nazi era."
What particularly irritates Roman Haller these days is the silence of the masses. He is certain that tens of thousands in Germany, and especially many Christians, stand with Israel. "But frankly, they are too quiet for my liking. They don't take to the streets and demonstrate. Society needs to wake up and understand that Israel is also fighting for Europe, because Iran and radical Islam are a danger to the entire Western world."
"Israel is our anchor"
The existence of the Jewish state is more than important to Roman Haller: “I don’t know what my life in Germany would be like without the State of Israel. Israel is our anchor.” At the age of 16, he visited Israel for the first time with a youth group. “It fascinated me – this sense of new beginnings, the sense of community. But somehow, the next step always came back to Germany – university, then I met my first wife here, we had children, and life went on.”
In the end, Haller stayed, and Israel became his Plan B. His parents had a similar experience. They, too, didn't want to remain in the land of the perpetrators after the Holocaust. German Major Eduard Rügemer and his Polish housekeeper, Irena Gut, had saved the lives of Ida and Lazar Haller, along with ten other Jews. After the war, the parents came to Munich, to a camp for so-called displaced persons—people who had been torn from their homes and could no longer return. Their ultimate goal was America. But that wasn't as easy as it seemed, as Roman Haller recounts.
The visa they applied for arrived after two years. “Suddenly, they were told the family had to be on the ship in Hamburg within a week. That was too fast for my parents; they had an apartment, and my father had a job. They desperately wanted to leave, but not so suddenly. So we had a doctor issue a certificate of unfitness to travel. To be honest, I don't even know how many times that doctor had to come. There was always a different reason, and in the end, they stayed for the rest of their lives.”
In search of the rescuers
During their first years in Germany, the parents were constantly searching for their rescuers. “We didn’t find Irena at first, but we did find the Major. He lived alone in Nuremberg and then came to live with us in Munich. He was like a grandfather to me. I loved that man. I didn’t have any grandparents; they had all been murdered by the Nazis. We didn’t find Irena until the early 1980s. She was subsequently honored at Yad Vashem.” Rügemer was also posthumously recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” at the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
Roman Haller gradually learned about his parents' story and the circumstances of his birth over the years. "My mother never talked about it; she couldn't. She had nightmares so often. As a child, I often woke up from them. My father, on the other hand, talked about it constantly. At some point, I couldn't listen to it anymore—I simply couldn't bear to constantly hear about what had been done to my parents. Later, I would have liked to know more, but eventually, it was too late. But Irena was still able to tell me a lot."
Does he believe in God? Yes, because he has a special story with Him. "I believe in God, but I'm not particularly religious. I used to only go to synagogue on the High Holy Days. But then my wife got cancer, and I made a deal with the Lord. I asked Him to heal my wife, and in return, I would go to synagogue every Saturday. He kept his word. My wife recovered, and as is customary among gentlemen, one must, of course, keep one's promises, and that's what I'm doing."
To person
Roman Haller was an entrepreneur, director for 17 years of the successor organization to the Claims Conference, president of the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith of Germany and Austria, president of the Israeli Cancer Society, and vice president of Keren Hayesod Munich. After the death of his first wife, he married Eva Haller, co-founder and honorary president of the European Janusz Korczak Academy. The story of how Irena Gut rescued his parents is recounted in the feature film "Irena's Secret." In his book "Star of David and Lederhosen: A Childhood in the Post-War Era," Roman Haller tells his life story. It was also documented by the association "Witnesses of Contemporary Witnesses" in this interview published on YouTube .
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 142. You can order the newspaper here . We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
