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23 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,F ebruary 17,2022 insidehalton.com The book "Meant to Be," written by Roslyn Fran- ken, is the story of the un- likely -- and remarkable -- meeting of her parents. Her mother Sonja sur- vived 11 concentration camps and three gas cham- bers. Her father John was captured by the Japanese navy and put to work. He was inside a Nagasaki coal mine when the second atomic bomb was dropped on the city, allowing him to walk away unscathed. They met after the war and got married. Franken held the Inter- faith Council of Halton (ICH) spellbound with this story, and they invited her to take part in their U.N. World Interfaith Harmony Week (IHW) celebration. The IHW was first pro- posed by King Abdullah II of Jordan in September of 2010 in the United Nations General Assembly. It was adopted by the U.N. the fol- lowing October. This year's event ran from Feb. 1 to 8. "By boosting awareness of compassion and empa- thy for what the victims and survivors like her par- ents suffered," Rabbi Ste- phen Wise said in his intro of Franken, "Roslyn hopes to help people understand the dangers of what today's levels of discrimination, hate and evil lead to if we don't stop it." Franken's mother, Son- ja Pagrach, was the daugh- ter of a kosher butcher and a homemaker who lived in the Netherlands. John Franken, her father, was the son of hoteliers and was born in Indonesia, which was then the Dutch East In- dies. Nothing about their lives, at this stage or the ones that will soon come, suggested that they would one day meet and get mar- ried. And yet they did, but they had to endure un- imaginable horrors to get there. On May 10, 1940, the Na- zis invaded the Nether- lands. The Dutch put up a fight, but surrendered within a few days. The Na- zis were now in charge. Roslyn Franken showed a chilling photo of her uncle, her mother's brother, in her presentation who was wearing a yellow Star of David on his suit. Sonja Pagrach and some of her sisters were separat- ed from their parents, brothers and oldest sister. She never saw them again. "When I was a kid, I re- member being jealous of my friends who had all kinds of family members around them during spe- cial occasions," Franken said in her presentation. Little stories of quick thinking and sheer deter- mination peppered both parent's time as prisoners. Pagrach, during her time at Auschwitz, once separated two twins knowing full well that they would have been taken to the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. During a death march in some Czechoslovak moun- tains in one of the coldest winters, Pagrach's sister gave up and fell to the ground. She picked her up and carried her on her back and told her "I want you to be alive." John Franken was drafted by the Dutch naval airforce. While en route to Australia, he was captured by the Japanese and put to work. He was haunted throughout his life by the screams of young girls who were being used as sex slaves, called "comfort women." After realizing that welders get warm clothes, he hatched a plan to be- come a welder. He was trained as a welder in the Dutch navy, but was ner- vous he might not be good enough. "He looks down and notices ... two pieces of metal perfectly welded to- gether." He showed the in- spector this item, and he got the job. His cleverness did not end there. When he found out that coal miners were entitled to daily baths, he managed to get himself re- assigned. That is how he ended up in Nagasaki on that fateful day. The pair would survive their ordeals. A friend would introduce Sonja Pa- grach to John Franken. They would then start ex- changing letters. AUTHOR MOVES INTERFAITH COUNCIL WITH PARENTS' EXTRAORDINARY STORY The incredible story of how her parents met is the basis of Roslyn Franken's book 'Meant to Be'. Metro Creative photo MANSOOR TANWEER NEWS Cut out paying more Your only destination for more coupons, more flyers, more savings. #SavingWithSave save.ca/coupons Save $1.00 on any Pure Protein Product Scan to get coupons Reserve Your Table Today jakesgrill.ca 905-639-4084