Maine

Charles Rotmil, Holocaust survivor who shared his story with Maine students, dies at 93

Published

7 months ago

November 19, 2025

Charles Rotmil, Holocaust survivor who shared his story with Maine students, dies at 93

Holocaust survivor Charles Rotmil speaks to students in the MIchael Klahr Center rotunda. (Courtesy of Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine)

Decades after surviving the Holocaust, Charles Rotmil often shared a simple but powerful message: “I don’t live in the past. The past lives in me.”

Rotmil, one of Maine’s most significant voices in Holocaust remembrance and human rights education, died Tuesday morning, his partner, Cathryn Wilson, confirmed. He was 93.

After emigrating to the United States and settling in Maine, Rotmil shared his story with thousands of students and pushed for schools to teach about the genocide committed against Jews by Nazis in Germany.

“We need to know what happened during this period so that it will never happen again,” Rotmil said in 2021 during testimony before the Legislature.

Rotmil, of Portland, was remembered Wednesday as a storyteller, survivor, artist and teacher whose openness about his horrific experiences as a child impacted the lives of many Mainers.

“Through his stories, his art, and his courage, he inspired countless students, educators, and community members to stand against injustice and embrace compassion,” Tam Huynh, executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, said in a statement. “His presence will be deeply missed, and his legacy will live on in every student he taught and every life he touched.”

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows came to know Rotmil well while she was the director of the HHRC and said it was inspiring to see his courage, authenticity and resilience in action.

“It must have been difficult and painful for Charles to tell the stories of the Holocaust and his personal losses over and over again, but he recognized how important it was,” Bellows said. “He had seen the worst of the worst. He lost his parents, he lost everything, yet he survived to share the lessons of the Holocaust with the next generation.”

SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST

Rotmil was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1932, six months before Hitler came to power. He would later tell people his childhood was normal until his family moved to Vienna, Austria.

After Nazis closed the synagogues, religion centered around the dinner table for Rotmil and his family, he told students during a 1994 school visit in Waterboro.

“To this day, I like to linger at the table,” he said.

During Kristallnacht — two nights of violent persecution of Jewish people across Germany and Austria in November 1938 — German soldiers smashed down the family’s door and arrested Rotmil’s father after beating his head against a table.

The next morning, Rotmil and his sister walked over shards of glass and past walls scrawled with antisemitic graffiti. The family fled to Belgium, where Jewish refugees were being accepted. Rotmil’s father carried him trough the woods during their journey.

When Belgium was invaded in 1940, thousands of Jews were forced to walk into France while airplanes shot at them from above. The scene was “total chaos,” with fires burning on the horizon and dead bodies strewn across the road, Rotmil recounted decades later.

Rotmil’s father, Adi, left the road to find a wheelbarrow for their bags and disappeared, but the family continued on and boarded a train. His sister died when the train hit a car on the tracks, and his mother died a week later from her injuries.

Rotmil and his brother, Bernard, were eventually reunited with their father and went back to Austria. There, his father was turned in by a neighbor and arrested. He was executed upon arrival at Auschwitz concentration camp.

With help from Father Bruno Reynders, a Belgian monk who hid over 350 children, Rotmil and his brother were sheltered in Christian homes. They often had to change their names and lived in constant danger, according to the HHRC.

On a foggy morning in December 1946, Rotmil and his brother arrived in the United States aboard the Ile de France and went to Peekskill, New York, to stay with their aunt and uncle.

A CREATIVE LIFE

After college, Rotmil worked as an assistant to a prominent photographer in New York City, where he was active in the downtown arts scene in the 1970s. He photographed artists Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana, said Wilson, Rotmil’s partner. His photographs of artist Bob Thompson were included in a retrospective at Colby College a few years ago.

Rotmil was also a painter and filmmaker. His short film “The Eternal Hat” was featured in the 1970s in the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Another short film, “Street Musicians,” won an award from Space Gallery in 2007, Wilson said.

He played a variety of instruments, including guitar and Japanese flute. He often brought his harmonica to schools to play for students during his presentations. He enjoyed writing both fiction and nonfiction, and was working on a manuscript about his life before his death.

“He was a very gifted artist on many different levels,” Wilson said. “He was a very alive, creative person with a great sense of humor. People would be caught by surprise.”

Rotmil, who had four children, moved to Maine in 1982 and started a career teaching foreign languages to high school students. Wilson said he was somewhat of a teaching nomad, working at schools across the state — from the mountains to the Midcoast to Aroostook County.

Wilson said Rotmil, like many Holocaust survivors, didn’t always speak openly about his experience in the decades after he came to the U.S. But by the 1980s, more people were interested to hear from survivors about their experiences, she said.

“He was aware that hatred still exists. He thought there were very important lessons to be learned about what happened during the Holocaust so it wouldn’t happen again. He sensed a responsibility to share what had happened,” Wilson said.

Bellows said Rotmil was a charismatic and compelling speaker. When he was talking to students, it was sometimes the first time students were learning about the Holocaust. It was clear some students felt shock, anger and sadness, but he also “brought some light and hope for the future to his stories,” she said.

“He was always able to communicate the importance of human rights and standing up to evil,” Wilson said.

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Maine

Gov. Mills to decide on Maine school choice tax credit program

Published

7 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

Gov. Mills to decide on Maine school choice tax credit program

PORTLAND (WGME) — Maine Governor Janet Mills has not yet decided whether the state will opt into a new federal tax credit program that would help fund private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.

The program, called the Educational Choice for Children Act, would start next year. In states that opt in, individuals can receive up to $1,700 in tax credits for donations they make to scholarship-granting organizations, also known as SGOs. Those SGOs would then award grants to students to cover private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.

Families earning up to 300 percent of the area median income can qualify for the scholarships in states that opt in.

Under the current framework, donors contribute to SGOs and receive federal tax credits, and SGOs use the funds to award scholarships for qualifying educational expenses, including tuition, fees, tutoring, curriculum materials and educational therapy for K-12 students. SGOs can also use donated money to award scholarships for educational expenses, including everything from private school tuition to special needs services and educational therapy.

Each state’s governor must opt in by filing IRS Form 15714. Once opted in, the state designates SGOs to operate within its borders and distribute EFTC scholarships to eligible families.

Republican State Senator James Libby of Cumberland, a member of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, says he is interested in bringing the program to Maine.

“What it really does is it takes dollars that would normally go to pay for taxes and put them directly into education,” Libby said. “The program itself allows for expenditures for other things besides school choice, so the states can set it up the nonprofit to have goals for whatever they want. There’s a lot of good parts to this legislation and I truly hope Maine will get involved.”

Democratic Rep. Kelly Murphy, who chairs the state’s education committee, says she believes the program would hurt Maine students.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit favors families that already have the ability to pay for private schools at the expense of families with students enrolled in public schools,” Murphy said. “A decline in public school enrollment would result in a loss of state funding for local SAUs, as the costs for running schools continue to increase, putting additional pressure on property taxpayers to make up the gap. This program and others like it would hurt the majority of Maine students, especially those in small, rural schools across our state.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is in the process of finalizing rulemaking for the program. Currently, 30 states have opted into the program, and four states have opted out. In New England, New Hampshire is the only state that has opted in so far.

It is unclear if there is a hard deadline for states to opt in, but Mills is facing pressure to sign off this year so the Department of the Treasury can approve scholarship organizations before scholarships become available in January.

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Maine

Amtrak train strikes, kills man in Old Orchard Beach, Maine

Published

17 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Press Room

Amtrak train strikes, kills man in Old Orchard Beach, Maine

A 51-year-old man was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, on Thursday afternoon, and police believe alcohol was a factor.

Old Orchard Beach Police say they responded around 2:18 p.m. to the area of the railroad tracks located off from the roadway near 133 Temple Avenue. The victim, who had been struck by a train traveling northbound, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Information obtained from witnesses suggests the man was traveling alone and walking nearby the railroad tracks moments before being struck by the train, according to police, who didn’t say why they believe alcohol was a factor in the incident.

The victim’s name is being withheld pending further investigation and notification, with police saying only that he was from Old Orchard Beach.

Amtrak said in a statement obtained by NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine that the individual was trespassing when he came into contact with the train.

Amtrak urged the public in its statement to stay off railroad property and use caution around railroad tracks and grade crossings, writing, “These incidents can affect everyone involved—those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews, and our passengers.”

There were no reported injuries among the 135 passengers and crew members abord the No. 683 train that was traveling from Boston to Brunswick until the incident happened on Thursday.

The added that preventing railroad incidents and fatalities is a priority for them. Amtrak is working with local authorities investigating this latest incident.

An investigation remains ongoing by the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, Amtrak Police and Saco Police Department, which responded to assist.

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Maine

High bacteria advisories reported at multiple Maine swimming spots

Published

1 day ago

June 26, 2026

Press Room

High bacteria advisories reported at multiple Maine swimming spots

PORTLAND (WGME) — Wednesday afternoon, Tassel Top Park officials posted on social media, reporting the beach was temporarily closed to swimming after routine testing found elevated levels of E. coli in the water.

Anna Goodnik, a visitor at the park, says she was disappointed to learn she could not swim.

“It’s a beautiful lake. I feel so sorry, it’s too bad this happened,” Goodnik said.

She says she drove from Portland to visit the park.

“Very sad because I came from Portland, I drove 40 minutes,” Goodnik said.

Goodnik says she has been coming to Tassel Top Park for 15 years and that while the park remained open, she was hoping to get in the water.

“The water is so smooth right now, I would just like to swim in it,” Goodnik said.

Raymond Town Manager Glenn Michalowski said in a statement that the Portland Water District provides weekly test results for 18 locations around Sebago Lake. Tassel Top Beach was closed for swimming because E. coli levels exceeded state water quality standards.

Michalowski said testing indicated the presence of waterfowl in the area, which can contribute to elevated bacterial levels. The statement also noted that high E. coli counts after rain events and in areas with waterfowl activity are a normal occurrence across Maine beaches and recreational water areas.

Ben Peierls, research director at the Lakes Environmental Association, says warmer water can lead to more bacterial growth.

“When water gets warmer, there’s more growth of bacteria,” Peierls said.

Peierls says E. coli can come from animals such as birds, dogs and other wildlife, or from human waste. He says this time of year can bring rain and runoff that carries contaminants into lakes.

“This time of year, there’s lot of rain and runoff materials coming into lakes, and it’s coming from sources where there may have been that fecal material, and it gets washed into lakes and it shows up in places people could be recreating,” Peierls said.

Tassel Top is not the only location reporting elevated bacteria levels. Ferry Beach in Scarborough and East End Beach in Portland also reported results above Maine’s safety threshold for enterococci in marine waters.

Town officials say Tassel Top Beach will reopen once retesting confirms the water has returned to safe levels, and residents will be notified when the closure is lifted. Swimming can resume once weekly testing confirms water quality is back within safe limits.

To check the status of all beaches in the state, click here.

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