Bill Text: IL SR0984 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the passing of Tema "Temcia" (Posalska) Bauer of Morton Grove.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-04-09 - Resolution Adopted [SR0984 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-SR0984-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened | ||||||
3 | to learn of the death of Tema "Temcia" (Posalska) Bauer of | ||||||
4 | Morton Grove, who passed away on March 23, 2022 at the age of | ||||||
5 | 105; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer was born to Hendel and Chil Posalska | ||||||
7 | in Lodz, Poland on May 5, 1916; she was the youngest of nine | ||||||
8 | children; her siblings were Shmiel, Frania, Gutcha, Yosef, | ||||||
9 | Barrish, Herschel, Mania, and Sarah; and
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10 | WHEREAS, When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Tema | ||||||
11 | Bauer's siblings decided to move their parents to a smaller | ||||||
12 | town, thinking it might be safer; she intended to close the | ||||||
13 | family home and follow them, but she was ordered into the | ||||||
14 | Jewish ghetto in Lodz while her relatives were sent to | ||||||
15 | Chelmno, which was the first stationary facility where poison | ||||||
16 | gas was used to mass murder Jews; she never again saw the 38 | ||||||
17 | members of her family, which included her parents, her | ||||||
18 | siblings, their husbands and wives, and her 21 nieces and | ||||||
19 | nephews; and
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20 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer worked in a kitchen and then at a shoe | ||||||
21 | factory in the Lodz Ghetto; she underwent a three-day train | ||||||
22 | journey in 1943, where she stood in a packed car with no room |
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1 | to sit, no water, no food, and no bathroom facilities, before | ||||||
2 | arriving at the slave labor camp Skarzysko-Kamienna; she was | ||||||
3 | then sent to a factory in Leipzig, Germany, where she was | ||||||
4 | forced to make munitions alongside other slave laborers; she | ||||||
5 | was seriously injured by bombing and survived thanks to two | ||||||
6 | Jewish doctors, who amputated her right arm above her elbow | ||||||
7 | without anesthesia or antibiotics, causing her to lose her | ||||||
8 | dominant hand in the process; two months after she lost her | ||||||
9 | arm, she was ordered on a six-day death march with other women | ||||||
10 | laborers toward the Elbe River in 1945; she was liberated | ||||||
11 | after her Nazi captors fled due to Allied forces drawing near; | ||||||
12 | and
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13 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer returned to Lodz, seeking news of her | ||||||
14 | family; while there, she reunited with Morris "Moishe" Bauer, | ||||||
15 | a fellow Holocaust survivor who had survived at least seven | ||||||
16 | camps due in part to his skills as a cobbler and who, like her, | ||||||
17 | was also the sole survivor of his family; they married in 1945; | ||||||
18 | they then went to a displaced-persons camp in Germany, where | ||||||
19 | she was determined to prove that she could do with one hand | ||||||
20 | what any other wife could do with two and received an award one | ||||||
21 | month for having the cleanest home in the camp; they had their | ||||||
22 | first son, Jerry, while at the camp in 1948; and
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23 | WHEREAS, Alongside her young family, Tema Bauer emigrated | ||||||
24 | to the United States through Ellis Island, settling in Chicago |
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1 | in 1949; they lived on Grenshaw Street on the West Side for | ||||||
2 | approximately eight months before settling in East Rogers | ||||||
3 | Park; her husband borrowed $1,758.38 from the Jewish Family | ||||||
4 | and Community Service organization to open a shoe-repair shop | ||||||
5 | on Devon Avenue, which they paid back in 1956; they had their | ||||||
6 | second son, Michael, in 1952; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer and her husband Morris remained an | ||||||
8 | inseparable team, devoted to one another and their growing | ||||||
9 | family; after her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's | ||||||
10 | disease, she cared for him for the last eight years of his life | ||||||
11 | until his death in 1995; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer was affectionately known as "Mama | ||||||
13 | Tema" to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who she | ||||||
14 | would kvell over, attending every birthday party, bar and bat | ||||||
15 | mitzvah, graduation, recital, sports event, and wedding; she | ||||||
16 | was a skilled cook known for her kreplach, borscht, chicken | ||||||
17 | matzoh ball soup, mandel bread, cinnamon-scented kugel and | ||||||
18 | apple slices, and gefilte fish; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer was one of the oldest Holocaust | ||||||
20 | survivors in Illinois at the time of her passing, and she will | ||||||
21 | be remembered for her wisdom, courage, and inner strength, the | ||||||
22 | remarkable qualities of her extraordinary life; her story will | ||||||
23 | live on through the oral history interview she provided on |
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1 | November 8, 1992 to the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of | ||||||
2 | Illinois, known today as the Illinois Holocaust Museum and | ||||||
3 | Education Center, which is now part of the U.S. Holocaust | ||||||
4 | Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Tema Bauer was the beloved wife of the late | ||||||
6 | Morris "Moishe" Bauer; the loving mother of Dr. Jerry | ||||||
7 | (Adrienne) Bauer and the late Michael Bauer (Roger Simon); the | ||||||
8 | adoring grandmother of Michelle (Stuart) Primack, Dr. Hillary | ||||||
9 | Bauer-Cohen (Jeffrey Cohen), and Aaron (Lauren) Bauer; and the | ||||||
10 | doting great-grandmother of Maya Primack, Mason Primack, Sasha | ||||||
11 | Cohen, Jonah Cohen, Joshua Cohen, Olivia Bauer, and Miles | ||||||
12 | Bauer; therefore, be it
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13 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | ||||||
14 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | ||||||
15 | Tema "Temcia" (Posalska) Bauer and extend our sincere | ||||||
16 | condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved | ||||||
17 | her; and be it further
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18 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
19 | presented to the family of Tema Bauer as an expression of our | ||||||
20 | deepest sympathy.
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