Lea Gleitman papers

Lea Gleitman was born Lea Lorka Posner on November 27, 1924 in Oświęcim, Poland. Her father, Jonasz Chaim Posner, was a merchant and her mother, Sabina Ernst Posner was a housewife. Lorka was one of four children, she had an older brother, Jehuda Zeev Wowek Posner, born in 1920 and two sisters: Miriam, born in 1922 and Berta Balcia, born in 1927. In 1932 the family moved to Sosnowiec to be closer to their store which was located in Chorzów, Poland. In September 1939 Lea’s father fled Poland to Ostrów, near Lvov, Poland. He was killed there after the Germans invaded the area in June 1941. Lea, her mother and siblings lived in Sosnowiec, on 10 Wspólna Street. They were forced to move to the ghetto at the end of 1941. Sabina Posner, donor’s mother and Balcia, donor’s youngest sister, were deported to Auschwitz in August 1942 where they perished. Wowek Posner, donor’s brother, died in 1943. In March 1943 Lorka and her sister, Miriam, were deported to labor camps. Miriam was in Parschnitz, Czechoslovakia and Lorka was sent to Gräben, a sub camp of Gross Rosen. Lorka worked there in a flax mill. In December 1944 she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The British Army liberated the camp on April 15, 1945. Lorka contacted her uncle, Moshe Posner, in Copenhagen, who arranged for Swedish visas. Miriam Posner, donor’s sister, joined her in Bergen-Belsen DP camp and on May 6, 1946 they arrived in Malmo, Sweden.