– Mother of Plaza de Mayo survivor
– Holocaust survivor Sara Rus.
Iconic Human Rights Activist and Holocaust Survivor Sara Rus Passes Away at 97
In a sad turn of events, Sara Rus, the Mother of Plaza de Mayo and a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 97. Her daughter Natalia confirmed the news to Argentine news agency Télam. Rus was a prominent figure in the fight for human rights in Argentina, having joined the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo after her son Daniel was kidnapped by the military in 1977.
Rus’s contribution to the cause was acknowledged by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who expressed their sorrow in a post on X. They referred to her as a comrade and stated their commitment to continue building memory in order to prevent crimes against humanity.
Sara Rus’s journey towards fighting for justice began long before her involvement in the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Born in Poland in 1927, she experienced the horrors of the Holocaust when Nazi Germany invaded her country. At the age of 12, Rus and her parents were forced into a ghetto, where she was made to work in a hat factory.
Subsequently, they were transported to Auschwitz, the most notorious concentration camp under the Third Reich. During her time there, Rus was subjected to slave labor in an airplane factory. Tragically, out of the 1.3 million individuals sent to Auschwitz, over 1.1 million lost their lives, with 90% of the victims being Jewish.
Despite enduring such immense suffering, Sara Rus managed to survive the Holocaust and, in 1948, she and her husband Bernardo arrived in Argentina. They settled in Villa Lynch, located in Buenos Aires province. The couple had two children, Daniel and Natalia, born in 1950 and 1955 respectively.
The devastating blow of tragedy struck the family when Daniel Rus, a nuclear physicist, was kidnapped by the military on July 15, 1977. His last known location was at the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), where he had been working the previous year. Sara embarked on an unwavering search for her son, but unfortunately, she was never able to uncover the identity of his kidnappers or his whereabouts. To this day, Daniel remains missing.
In a significant development, in 2023, the Argentine government officially acknowledged that Daniel had been forced to leave his position at the CNEA due to state terrorism.
Reflecting on a Life of Resilience and Activism
Sara Rus’s passing marks the end of an era for human rights activism in Argentina. Her unwavering determination to seek justice for her son and her immense strength in surviving the Holocaust serve as an inspiration to all who fight for a better world.
Her legacy will live on through the work of organizations like the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who continue to advocate for justice and memory. Sara Rus’s story reminds us of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and the importance of preserving the memory of those who perished.
As we bid farewell to this remarkable woman, let us remember her as a symbol of resilience and hope. May her memory continue to inspire generations to come, and may her son Daniel finally find the justice he deserves.
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1. Mother of Plaza de Mayo and Holocaust survivor Sara Rus
2. Mother of Plaza de Mayo and Holocaust survivor Sara Rus dies.
