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Oral history interview with Leizor Kalowski and Sonia Kalowski

Oral History | Accession Number: 2020.16.1 | RG Number: RG-90.114.0001

Leizor Kalowski (born on June 15, 1916 in Lodz, Poland) and Sonia Kalowski (born on July 22, 1919 [possibly 1916] in Lodz, Poland), discuss their marriage in 1939 after the Germans invaded Poland; surviving the Lodz ghetto; having a child; leaving Poland in the fall of 1945; journeying through Czechoslovakia and Austria into West Germany where the US Army placed them in the Bensheim displaced persons camp; immigrating to the United States in 1951 with the support of HIAS; settling in Providence, RI; their work supporting the family; having another son in 1955; retiring in 1981; and their children and grandchildren.

Some video files begin with 10-60 seconds of color bars.

Interviewee: Leizor Kalowski
Sonia Kalowski
Interviewer: Nathan Kalowski
Date: interview: 2005
Geography: creation: Brookline (Mass.)
Language: English
Extent: 4 digital files : wmv.
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Nathan Kalowski

Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
Topical Term: Holocaust survivors--Marriage.
Holocaust survivors--United States.
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives.
Jewish families.
Jewish ghettos--Poland--Lódz.
Jewish women in the Holocaust.
Jews--Persecutions--Poland.
Jews--Poland--Lódz.
Men--Personal narratives.
Refugee camps--Germany.
Women--Personal narratives.
World War, 1939-1945--Deportations.
World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Poland.
Geographic Name: Bensheim (Germany)
Bremerhaven (Germany)
Lódz (Poland)
Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
Providence (R.I.)
United States--Emigration and immigration.
Personal Name: Kalowski, Leizor.
Kalowski, Sonia.
Corporate Name: Bensheim (Displaced persons camp)
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America.
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: Nathan Kalowski donated his interview with his parents Leizor and Sonia Kalowski to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in January 2020.
Conditions on Access: No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use
: Record last modified: 2020-10-07 13:38:27
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn715908

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