Alfred and Susanne Batzdorff

The pair recently celebrated 70 years together.|

Alfred and Susanne Batzdorff of Santa Rosa, both 92, met as teenagers in Breslau, Germany. They emigrated separately to the U.S. during the Holocaust and then reunited and married on March 12, 1944, 70 years ago, in New York. There they started a family, which grew to include three sons, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

After retiring from their professional lives as a librarian (Susanne) and an engineer (Alfred), they moved to Santa Rosa from Pennsylvania in 1982 and became leaders in the Jewish community. Congregation Beth Ami is their home away from home.

They celebrated their anniversary surrounded by numerous family members at a dinner at Sonoma Wine Shop in Sebastopol on May 25th.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.
Send a letter to the editor