Influential Figures

Louis & Rose Van Thyn: A Story of Holocaust Survival and Resilience

This couple saw the worst of World War II as Jewish prisoners in Nazi death camps. Louis and Rose were both born in Amsterdam. Rose’s immediate family, including her first husband, died in the Holocaust. As a young, healthy woman, she was sent to Auschwitz, where scientists used her in medical experiments. Louis also was sent to Auschwitz, where he toiled in coal mines and a tailor shop. Later, Rose was transported to Ravensbrueck and survived a “Death March” near the war’s end. They met immediately after the war in Amsterdam, married in 1951, and then immigrated to Louisiana in 1956. Louis spent a career with an oil pipe and supply company. Rose, awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Centenary College, speaks often to school and civic groups about their experiences.

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