An Upper West Sider understands better than most the hell endured by the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel — and their elation upon learning their freedom is near.
Barry Rosen “lived in darkness” for 444 days after being taken by Iranian revolutionaries on Nov. 4, 1979, each day a new low of feeling “hopeless and helpless.”
“Nothing is more important than for them to be home and see their loved ones again,” an emotional Rosen, 80, told The Post, after a cease-fire deal was announced this week.
“I hugged my wife, Barbara. It’s almost as if I was there with them – it was a great moment to hear.”
Of about 250 hostages abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, 98 remain captive, including seven Americans. Sunday, when the first releases are scheduled, will mark 471 days in captivity.
Rosen was about a year into his job as a press attaché for the US Embassy in Tehran when he and 51 other Americans were taken by extremist followers of Ayatollah Khomeini who had just overthrown the US-backed shah.
Rosen spent six months inside the “worst” prison in Iran, with guns held to his head, often tied up, and forbidden from speaking for months on end.
“I lived in darkness too. I spent a great deal of my captivity in a dark, dank room,” sometime with one lightbulb — or none at all — for days, he recalled.
His lowest point, he told The Post before the 40th anniversary of his capture in 2019, was being forced to falsely confess he was a spy. He had refused several times over the first month of captivity, until guards pointed automatic weapons at his head and demanded he sign a written admission — giving him 10 seconds to do it or be executed on the spot.
“I signed it,” Rosen remembered. “I was distraught. I didn’t want to live after that.”
When he could, he would try to remember his old life. Once when he was allowed outside – not knowing where he was because he was moved so often – Rosen spied a blade of grass, plucked it from the ground and quickly pocketed it.
The verdant keepsake reminded him of his dead father. “I thought of us going together to baseball games.”
It was only when a guard told him of his imminent release on Jan. 20, 1981, the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, that he could take a breath.
“I didn’t believe them,” he said. “It didn’t sink in for a long time that we were free.”
The timing of the Israelis release — on or around a presidential inauguration — is one of the several parallels. Iran’s role in both cases is another, said Rosen. As a key financial backer of Hamas, Iran is a “terribly ominous scourge,” he said.
For his devoted wife, the plight of the Hamas hostages has brought a deluge of painful memories.
“It all comes back – it’s heartbreaking,” Barbara Rosen told The Post, noting the eerie similarities between her plight and that of today’s anguished families, who have endured multiple false starts and failed deals.
“The poor families are on the same rollercoaster we were on,” said Barbara.
The toll it took on the families, and in the Rosens’ case, two young children, was agonizing. “It was one false claim after another – it went on and on for the entire time.”
Once news of release was real, Barbara led their 4-year-old son, Alexander, who faced reporters outside the NYC family home and triumphantly declared, ”My daddy’s coming home.”
Rosen, who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after his release, said getting the Israeli hostages any help they need must be the top priority “to recover from this deeply profound and horrible situation.”
“There is a great opportunity for everyone to live happy and good lives. The situation will always be with them, but they can make a new life,” said Rosen, who went on to a career in public affairs at various colleges and relishes family time with his two children and three grown grandkids.
Still, forgetting will be impossible, Rosen said.
“Being a hostage is part of my DNA – it’s with me all the time and it will be with me the rest of my life.”
