Oral history interview with Barbara Cohen

Josepha Lanzinger collection

Document

Consists of material related to the experiences of Josepha (Josefa, Josefine) Lanzinger, born in Augsburg in 1929. Includes a 1959 reissue of her birth certificate, a 1946 certificate on completion of an apprenticeship in Würzburg, a November 1946 report card, a small photograph of Josepha, and two photographic negatives, one of a small girl, one of a group of people, significance unknown. The donor believes that Josepha was hidden in a convent during the Holocaust.

Pencil portrait of a former Jewish Polish hidden child done in DP camp

Object

Llifelike pencil portrait of 4 year old Basha Schaechter done in 1946 when she lived in Stuttgart displaced persons camp with her parents, Filip and Janina. Basha was born in September 1941 in Bukaczowce, Poland, where her parents were living under false papers as Christians, Frank and Janina Rogalski. Just before Basha's birth, the village, which was in Soviet territory, was occupied by German troops. The family fled to a village near Krakow. Around summer 1942, their landlord said he knew they were Jewish, and that he would not report them, but they must leave. They decided it was safer to separate, since Jean and Basha, both blue-eyed blondes, did not look Jewish. Janina took Basha and went to Germany as a Polish forced laborer. She found work at an inn in Durnholz, Germany, and placed Basha with a Christian woman, Berta Antleman. Janina visited occasionally, but not as her mother, and Basha did not remember her. In spring 1945, as rumors spread that the war was ending, Janina said she would be leaving with Basha, but Berta said the child would remain with her. In April 1945, Janina asked to take Basha for a walk, and then ran away with her. They went to Stuttgart displaced persons camp in Germany. They were soon reunited with Filip, who had worked as a Polish forced laborer in Pulsnitz, Germany. The family sailed to New York in May 1946 on the SS Marine Flasher.

Child's blue striped sweater vest worn by a former hidden child on her arrival to the US

Object

Blue striped knit vest worn by 4 year old Basha Schaechter when she arrived in New York in May 1946 on the SS Marine Flasher. Basha was born in September 1941 to Filip and Janina, who were living under false papers as Christians, Frank and Janina Rogalski. Just before Basha's birth, the village, which was in Soviet territory, was occupied by German troops. The family fled to a village near Krakow. Around summer 1942, their landlord said he knew they were Jewish, and that he would not report them, but they must leave. They decided it was safer to separate, since Jean and Basha, both blue-eyed blondes, did not look Jewish. Janina took Basha and went to Germany as a Polish forced laborer. She found work at an inn in Durnholz, Germany, and placed Basha with a Christian woman, Berta Antleman. Janina visited occasionally, but not as her mother, and Basha did not remember her. In spring 1945, as rumors spread that the war was ending, Janina said she would be leaving with Basha, but Berta said the child would remain with her. In April 1945, Janina asked to take Basha for a walk, and then ran away with her. They went to Stuttgart displaced persons camp in Germany. They were soon reunited with Filip, who had worked as a Polish forced laborer in Pulsnitz, Germany.

Oral history interview with Philip Schechter

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jean Schechter

Oral History