Holocaust survivor, 97, forced out of school when Nazis invaded granted ‘golden wish' to finally go to college: ‘It felt like I grew up'
She just got life's greatest lesson.
A Holocaust survivor who was forced out of school at age 12 as World War II raged in Europe finally got her long-deferred wish of going to college — enjoying a day of classes and even attending a basketball game in the Bronx.
As a young girl, Jacqueline Kimmelstiel, 97, fled to escape persecution after Germany invaded France during the war, hiding from the Nazis with nuns at a convent. She wasn't allowed to return to school after 6th grade, which as a lover of learning she always regretted even more than 80 years later.
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10 Holocaust survivor Jacqueline Kimmelstiel, 97, was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by attending a day of classes at Elizabeth Seton College in the Bronx.
Robert Miller
But on Tuesday, Kimmelstiel had the chance to live out her lifelong goal, as the inaugural recipient of Hebrew Home RiverSpring Living's 'golden wish' program, which makes dreams come true for its residents.
'It felt like I grew up finally,' a beaming Kimmelstiel told The Post after her day of attending one-on-one English and French classes at the University of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale.
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'They didn't allow us to go to school. I always wanted this, I've always missed this,' she said.
The nonagenarian started her day with an English Literature class, where Dr. Leonard Nalencz read her a poem that stirred up her emotions.
'I don't usually enjoy poetry this much, but this one is written beautifully and you really feel the love in the air,' she shared.
10 Kimmelstiel with a book of poetry she read at an English Literature class.
Robert Miller
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Her second session of the day was a French class led by Dr. Severine Rebourcet, which gave Kimmelstiel a chance to dust off her foreign language skills she picked up in her youth.
'I spoke French for a long time because I lived in France. I don't get to speak it [usually], but I never forgot it,' she said.
Kimmelstiel then attended a scrimmage basketball game where she delivered the ball to center court as an honorary coach. After the game she was presented with a sweatshirt and told she was an 'official Dolphin' — the school's team mascot.
10 Kimmelstiel watching a basketball game at Elizabeth Seton College.
Robert Miller
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10 One of the basketball players speaking with Kimmelstiel, who served as the game's honorary coach.
Robert Miller
'The game was amazing,' she said, though she admitted she was never big into sports.
After making the rounds at the school. Kimmelstiel's day ended with a graduation ceremony, where the president of the school and officials dressed in full regalia and presented her with an official college certificate.
The golden wish came to be after RiverSpring Living's chief communications officer learned of her desire to get a taste for academics which had eluded her for so long.
'She told me that for many years it bothered her that she only went to school until age 12, and so we said, OK, we can do something about that,' Wendy Steinberg told The Post.
10 Kimmelstiel as a 1-year-old with her 4-year-old brother Pierre in 1928 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Obtained by the NY Post
10 Kimmelstiel with her husband Albert.
Obtained by the NY Post
'We called the President of University of Mount St. Vincent and told her about Jacqueline and her dream to go to school, and they made it happen, and this is an experience of a lifetime for her, and one that she'll never forget.'
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Kimmelstiel came to live in the US in 1947, where she worked as a seamstress and eventually met her husband, who survived Auschwitz. Her grandchildren, Jonah Kimmelstiel and Rebecca Kevelson, who read poems to their grandmother during her literature class, spoke glowingly of their grandmother's college experience.
'Education was always something that was very important to our grandmother … throughout our life, education was the most important thing, so it's not surprising that her golden wish would be to go to college,' Jonah told The Post.
10 Kimmelstiel said that her late husband Albert would be proud of her.
Family photo
'I think there's no greater accomplishment for her than not only to see her graduate college, but also to have her with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.'
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Her granddaughter Rebecca said she remembered her grandma saying at her college graduation how lucky she was to have the opportunity.
'That right was taken away from her without her choice. So I know I've spoken about it for years when I tell her story of surviving the Holocaust and how she wasn't even allowed to go to high school, let alone College,' she said.
10 Kimmelstiel speaking with students in a hall of Elizabeth Seton College.
Robert Miller
10 Kimmelstiel was only able to attend school until she was 12 years old.
Robert Miller
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'Having gone through the horrors of what she and our grandfather went through as Holocaust survivors, and now she has four great-grandchildren and a college degree almost, that's really special.'
As university president Susan R. Burns presented Kimmelstiel with her college degree, she lauded her for her tenaciousness.
'As a survivor of the Holocaust, she endured unimaginable loss, cruelty and hardship, yet Jacqueline never surrendered her faith in humanity or promise for a better future,' she said.
10 Elizabeth Seton College president Susan R. Burns presenting Kimmelstiel with a degree.
Robert Miller
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'One of the dreams that sustained Jacqueline through those years and the years that followed was the hope of a college education … Today, we do more than confer contract with a special certificate, we acknowledge a dream long deferred but never extinguished. We are proud to make Jacqueline's dream a reality today.'
After receiving her degree, Kimmelstiel looked at her degree with a smile and said, 'I just want to tell you how wonderful it is to be so well liked and to see all these beautiful things.'
'I know my late husband would be so proud. He was always (into) sports and all these things. Unfortunately, he's not with us anymore, but I take it all in his place.'
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