Family gives museum clock from their Parisian home that was ransacked by Nazis

The mantel clock that was proudly displayed in the dining room of a Parisian home back in the 1930s represents a moment in time when Rosette Gerbosi says her life was perfect.

News 12 Staff

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Jan 12, 2021, 1:16 PM

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Updated 1,440 days ago

A Long Island family made a very special donation to the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center of Nassau County - a clock that not only tells time, but also a story.

The mantel clock that was proudly displayed in the dining room of a Parisian home back in the 1930s represents a moment in time when Rosette Gerbosi says her life was perfect.

"I remember we had a large dining room table, and I would take my doll carriage and walk around the table listening to the chime," she says.

But she and her family's happy life was quickly destroyed when the Nazis invaded France - and their Parisian home was ransacked.

Her mother and father decided to send their 8-year-old to the countryside to hide with friends.

Her older brother Bernard joined the French Resistance, and her parents were arrested and sent to Auschwitz.

"They were the most loving wonderful people, and they were exterminated just because they were Jews. No other reason," she says.

Years later, Gerbosi and her brother were finally reunited in New York - and their joyful reunion included the clock that neighbors had hidden from the Nazis.

"My brother walked down the plank cradling this big object in his arms wrapped in a blanket and sure enough it was the clock. It was a miracle," he says.