98-year-old woman escapes house fire in Pulaski, says it brings back memories of escaping WWII

Pulaski, PA - 98-year old Lieselotte Schwarz sits in her walker with bruises on both hands, looking over the pile of ash that used to be her home.
“I can't believe I lost my home, my beautiful home,” she said through tears.
She lived in the house on Schwarz Lane in Pulaski for 50 years. Last Wednesday, she was sitting in her living room when she heard a bang noise in the kitchen.
“The microwave door had flown open and it was across the floor and it was on fire,” Schwarz said. “I got the fire on my towel and (put) water on it in the sink.”
The fire grew and she knew she had to get out.
“All I was wearing was my nightgown, no shoes,” she said. “I run out here and I got the car.”
Her car got stuck in the snow at the end of the driveway so she walked almost a football field's length to the neighbors house for help.
“I kept telling myself 'I have to make one more step, one more step to save that house,’” she said.
But the house was a total loss. Escaping the fire brought back memories of escaping bombings during World War Two for Schwarz.
“Bombs were coming down all around me exploding. The stuff was like an earthquake. I was pregnant in my fifth month. The whole house was on fire, the only place was the living room. My father and I knew all the stones from the previous bombing were laying in front of the house, we couldn’t get out,” Schwarz said about living in Germany during the war.
The navy rescued her and her family that night. Her family then escaped to Canada and then made their way to the United States. Schwarz even wrote a book about her time in Germany titled "My Life on World War II".
“She is the strongest woman I know,” Tami Chadick, her granddaughter said. “Her ability to overcome and just do what she has to do at the time is amazing.”
Going back to where the house once stood brought back many memories for Schwarz. She remembers all the times she had with her dog that didn't make it out of the fire, her paintings that covered her walls, and her beloved rose garden where she once spread her husband's ashes.
As she moves forward - through yet another tragedy in her life - what's getting Schwarz and her family through it is love.
”This is a terrible loss and there's a lot of memories in this place. I grew up here but most importantly is that we have each other still,” Chadick said. “She started over so many times in her life, she has a new chapter. It's going to look different but she has a lot of people that love her.
“It was unreal. All my life it was just absolutely hell but I survived it. I don’t know I had an angel every time,” Schwarz said.