LOVELAND, Colo — At 101, Joe Rubinstein was the oldest known Holocaust survivor in Colorado – he passed away in Loveland on July 18.
Joe’s story did not go quietly with him. Author Nancy Geise told the story of his life in Auschwitz #34207: The Joe Rubinstein Story.
“His story was heartbreaking,” Geise said. “Here’s a human being who lost virtually everything a person can lose. Everyone he knew or loved was murdered or killed in the war. He didn’t have a home, a country, a possession. It’s unimaginable what he lost yet it’s remarkable how he was able to move forward and live a remarkable and joy-filled life.”
Rubinstein, born Icek Jakub Rubinsztejn, was taken from his home and family in Radom, Poland, on a cold morning in 1942.
He had been in a ghetto designated for Jewish people for two weeks, Geise said.
There, he lived with his identical twin, his widowed mother and other siblings he was close to. Geise noted that they were a loving tight-knit family. After the loss of their father when Rubinstein was five years old, they worked hard to take care of each other.
After being taken away, he never saw them again.
“He was taken at 4 a.m. in the morning and put aboard an open-air truck. It was very cold. He was barefoot,” Geise said.
Rubinstein was brought to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he was a slave laborer for over two years, according to Geise. She said he was sent to several other camps as a laborer for almost five years of his life.
His survival, she said, he credited to unwavering faith, both in people and in God.
“He never gave up on God or his faith. If it hadn’t been for his loving family and his mother’s home cooking, he felt all those things made him strong to be able to endure what he did,” Geise said.
His strength was admirable: Rubinstein wasn’t self-destructive. He didn’t turn to drugs or alcohol, Geise said.
"He didn’t turn to evil. He saw the worst in mankind and human beings, yet he believed in the best," she said. "He loved people. He loved life. He was a joy-filled person. He radiated joy."
At the end of the war, once the Nazis fled the camps, Geise said Rubinstein walked out the open gates and right into town. From there, he moved with a fellow survivor to Germany.
It was in Germany that Rubinstein met Irene, his wife of 74 years. They moved to the United States in 1950, going from New York City to California to Colorado as the couple followed their son.
Post-war, Rubinstein made shoes. He didn’t just make shoes, he also designed them.
“He worked for many world-renowned shoe companies as lead designers,” Geise said.
He worked for Korkease Shoes, Inc., Herbert Levine Shoes, Nina Shoe and Gelbrow Shoe Corporation in New York City, according to his obituary. Later in California, he designed for Sbicca of California and Cherokee.
“To the day he died if you mentioned shoes, he lit up,” Geise said. “He knew everything he knew about shoes. Thing I love in particular is here’s a man who saw so much brutality and so many things beyond horrific and ugly, and he spent his life creating something of beauty and comfort for people to wear. I find that extraordinary.”
For over 70 years this extraordinary man didn’t tell anyone his story, Geise said. Telling his story to her, and the writing of her book, was the first time he shared his story with his family and then the world.
Through the process, Geise even found photos of Rubinstein’s family from before they moved to the ghetto. It was the first time he’d seen their faces since he had been taken away.
Rubinstein passed away peacefully, but Geise wants his story to live on.
“I want people to remember the lessons of Joe’s story,” she said. “We all have a choice in how we respond to adversity. He never gave up on life. I think that’s something we all need to do.”
Joe is survived by his wife, Irene, of 74 years, his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Last year, on his 100th birthday, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado, declared September 16 "Joe Rubinstein Day."