"Many times I have wondered why I was one of the survivors…. The war of course changed my life totally because I had to fight for survival. So as a result, it has been a very exciting life – a very tough life from many points of view… but I always had hope. I never gave up hope." A survivor of three concentration camps, Naomi Kaplan Warren passed away in early October at the age of 96.
Naomi was born in Wolkowysk Poland on September 1, 1920 to a warm and loving family that valued education, culture and Jewish community. While she was finalizing her plans to attend University in London, Germany invaded Poland and the war began, on her birthday in September, 1939. Shortly after, Soviet troops invaded Wolkowysk and took her father prisoner. As president of the local bank, the Russians accused him of being a capitalist and imprisoned him in Siberia.
In January 1943 Naomi was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau with her mother Chasia Salman Kaplan and brother Alexander on a trip she remembers as terrifying and horrendous. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Naomi was selected for labor while her mother was selected for death and sent to the gas chambers. Her brother died in Auschwitz several months later. Naomi's conviction to stay alive combined with her determination to work no matter how sick she was, allowed her to survive Auschwitz, the infamous women's camp Ravensbruck and finally Bergen-Belsen. In 1945 she was liberated from Bergen-Belsen by British troops.
Aided by her uncle and her sister who had settled in the United States prior to the war, Naomi made her way to the United States and settled in Houston, Texas. Miraculously, Naomi's father Samuel Kaplan survived the war in Siberia and was reunited with her in the United States. She first lived in New York where she met Martin Warren, also a Holocaust survivor. They married and together created the International Trading Company, an imported meat business in 1950.
Tragedy struck Naomi again in 1960 when Martin died, leaving her to raise their son and two daughters and to run the family business in a male dominated field. She proved herself as a strong business woman and under her leadership the International Trading Company grew to be a major manufacturing success.
Naomi's love of education and community led her to serve on the board of the Holocaust Museum Houston, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the Anti-Defamation League Southwest region and Naomi together with the Warren family were dedicated supports of Yad Vashem. She is survived by her children Helen (Andrew) Spector, Geri (Jim) Roper, Benjamin (Joy) Warren, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
