Oral history interview with Eugenia Rotsztejn

Eugenia Rotsztejn born on March 30, 1926 in Warsaw, Poland, discusses her large family; her father’s work as a slaughterhouse director; antisemitism before the war; being 13 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland; the bunker her family built; hiding in the bunker with a friend and her infant; the infant’s cries and the death of the infant from suffocation; being discovered by the Nazis and almost being sexually assaulted by these men; living in the ghetto for three years; the conditions in the ghetto; seeing her father for the last time in the Umschlagplatz; never seeing her brother and sister again; being taken with her mother to camp Majdanek; the train journey to Auschwitz; being tattooed with the number 48914; her work building bombs and grenades; moving from camp to camp as the Russians moved west; being sent on a death march; losing sight of her mother (she found her eight years after the war); being taken to Ravensbrück and another camp; escaping with her friend; being found by the Russians and the behavior of the Russians towards women; pretending to be a man at times to avoid unwanted attention from the Russian soldiers; returning to Warsaw and living in the street for four months; going to several UNRRA displaced persons camps; meeting her husband, David, in Modena, Italy; staying in the DP camp in Santa Maria di Leuca, where her son was born; going to Argentina in 1949 with her husband and her son; reuniting with her mother in 1956; running a textile business with her husband; being part of the founding of the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires; and helping to create the monument in the cemetery La Tablada for those who fought in Warsaw.

Lichtenberg and Stein families papers

Document

The Lichtenberg and Stein families papers include biographical material, correspondence, subject files, and photographs relating to the Lichtenberg and Stein families pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences in Germany and the United States. Lichtenberg family papers include biographical material for Hermann Lichtenberg and Alfred Lichtenberg, wartime and post-war correspondence between family members, school records for Hermann, and immigration records for Alfred, Hermann and Kathe, Hermann’s sister, as well as family photographs. Stein family papers include biographical material for Siegfried Stein, school records for Irma Stein, and immigration records for Irma, Adolf, and Benjamin Stein as well as family photographs. The collection also includes family history and research.

Silver baby cup

Object

Silver baby cup used by a member of the Lichtenberg or Stein families.

Prayer book

Publication

Pentateuch [Torah] volume relating to the Lichtenberg and Stein families during the time period of the Holocaust.