Caramoor tour honors the Rosens’ wartime story

A photo of the Rosen family: (from left) Lucie, Walter, Walter’s grandson, young Walter, Anne Rosen Scholz, Janos Scholz, and their baby. A photo of the Rosens' cousin, Jeanne Magre, who was living in France at the time of the war and was murdered in Aushwitz. A message written by Johnny Bigelow Dodge to Walter Tower Rosen when Johnny Bigelow Dodge was detained as a prisoner of War. Caramoor held the USO (United States Service Organization) concert in 1942 to raise money for the war effort. A visitor browsing photos and art in the Rosen House Theremin Room including artifacts of Lucie Rosen’s theremin performance on Tuesday, March 24, 1939. Photos COURTESY OF Caramoor's Rosen House

By DANIELA RYNOTT

Their son, a flight officer for the Canadian Army, died in a bomber plane crash. Their sister was a victim of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Their brother was a German prisoner of war for five years. Their gardener, labeled as missing in action, was later confirmed killed during combat in France. 

Walter and Lucie Rosen suffered multiple personal losses during World War II. 

In their grief, they brought together the local community through concerts celebrating art and music. Now, to honor the 80th anniversary of two events — the end of World War II and the creation of the Walter and Lucie Rosen foundation — Caramoor has created a Focus Tour about the family’s history during wartime.

As the founders of Caramoor, Walter and Lucie Rosen raised two children, young Walter and Anne, while remaining closely tied to their extended family, including Walter’s sister, Jeanne Rosen, and Lucie’s brother, Johnny Guest. Through these connections, the effects of war reached nearly every branch of the Rosen family tree.

One year ago, Caramoor archivist Jessa Krick sat amidst stacks of boxes, sorting through several thousands of letters, scrapbooks and postcards that would make up the 2025 Focus Tour. 

So, what sparked the decision to focus on the Rosens’ experience during WWII? 

“It came as a result of thinking about the tragic story of Walter Rosen’s sister, Jeanne, being murdered at Auschwitz,” Krick said.

Like her brother, Walter, Jeanne Rosen was born in Germany, but raised in the U.S., making her a naturalized American citizen. However, when she married a Frenchman, she chose to have French citizenship, as dual citizenship was not allowed at the time.

After her husband passed away of natural causes in the leadup to the war, the Rosens were very anxious to get Jean and her son, Claude, out of France. Walter wrote to the State Department, but, overwhelmed with requests, they required that Jeanne go to the French embassy.

Thinking it would be safer, Jeanne moved to the south of France, where she was then swept up in a gathering of those of Jewish heritage. Initially, she was sent to a prison camp outside of Paris, and then to Auschwitz, where she died in the fall of 1943. 

Jessa Krick theorizes, “I think part of it may be that, although she was ostensibly a French citizen, she was still an outsider, and the French were informing on each other at the time. She was not practicing Judaism, but she had four Jewish grandparents, and you were unsafe if you had just one Jewish grandparent.”

“Jeanne was just one of 6 million people of Jewish heritage that were killed during the Holocaust,” Krick reminds visitors. “It’s just one story out of so many, but it really links the Rosens to all of the other families who lost loved ones.” 

As visitors continue through the Focus Tour, one stop brings them to the Spanish Alcove, a side compartment in the Music Room, where a television plays footage of young Walter flying a plane in 1940. After earning his pilot’s license in 1930, Walter felt confident in the air, as he can be seen doing air tricks, often upside down.

Determined to help the Allies even before the U.S. joined the war, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He had deep emotional ties to both Canada and England, in part due to his grandmother, Flora Guest — Lucie’s mother — who had married into the British aristocracy during her second marriage. Walter often visited her estates in both countries.

After undergoing training in Ottawa, young Walter was deployed in England, where he flew the Halifax, a six-man bomber. 

They made several bombing runs over Germany and returned to the air base in Northern England. Although the Halifax successfully dropped bombs on Germany, on Aug. 16, 1944, Walter and his crew crash-landed short of the airfield. All six men perished, either immediately, or within a couple of days due to severe injuries.

On a table near the Spanish Alcove at Caramoor is a table presenting a framed picture of young Walter standing next to a boy: Albert Dimanti. The son of Caramoor’s longtime gardener, Albert died in France while serving in the U.S. Army, just a few months after Walter’s death in 1944. 

Their parallel fates underscore the reality that war affected families across all backgrounds and social classes. One letter on display, written by Albert from a training camp in Louisiana, offers a touching memory: “There’s some beautiful trees here in Louisiana, but they’re not as beautiful as the ones at Caramoor.”

Beside the photo, a U.S. Army uniform on loan from the Veterans Museum at Lasdon Park in Somers is displayed. Though not Albert’s actual uniform, it closely resembles what he would have worn.

Displayed alongside Walter and Albert’s stories is yet another chapter of courage and hardship, this one belonging to Lucie’s brother, Johnny. Similar to young Walter, Lucie’s brother Johnny also felt strong ties to his English heritage, leading him to reenlist as an older man after already serving in the First World War. Part of the 51st Highland Division, Johnny and his fellow soldiers were supposed to be evacuated at Dunkirk, but didn’t make it to the beaches there, and so they were captured by the Germans.

He spent five years as a German prisoner of war and, during that time, attempted to escape five times. A few times were successful, including when he and his fellow prisoners dug a tunnel out of the camp they were being held in. 

Despite the risk he posed for the Germans, Johnny was never executed, likely as a result of his important political connection as his mother was married to a cousin of Winston Churchill. Johnny survived the war and went on to have a successful career in investment. 

In the face of so much personal grief, Lucie Rosen channeled her sorrow into something enduring — music, community, and hope. She wrote that Caramoor’s concerts have three purposes: “to carry the winter musical season into the summer into the country, to give recreation and comfort to many who are tired with work and whose hearts are heavy with war, and to knit a community together, by giving them the best the city can offer here in the country.” 

Caramoor is still carrying on that legacy today. 

The 2025 Focus Tour ends Aug. 8. Visitors can schedule a docent-led tour or opt for a self-guided tour during Open House hours. For more information, visit caramoor.org.

Daniella Rynott is a summer intern at The Recorder. This paid internship is underwritten by a generous grant from a local family.