Biography
Sara Leichter (born Sara Szajfman) was born on January 10th, 1924 in Kielce, Poland to Ajdla (Adela) Salcberg (b. 1897) and Benjamin Szajfman (b. 1895). She had three siblings, Moshe (b. 1921), Leah (b. 1927) and Smulik (b. 1925), all of whom died in the Holocaust. Sara's father produced shoes, specifically making the tops be attached to soles. The family lived on Piotrkowska Street. The family was observant; Sara attended a private Jewish school for three years and then transferred to a Polish elementary school. On March 31, 1941, the Germans established a ghetto in the city. The Szajfman's home was already located within the borders so they did not have to move. When a hospital opened in the Ghetto, Sara volunteered to work there and enrolled in a nursing course that lasted three to four months. One day the Germans loaded all of the doctors onto trucks for a new work assignment. Sara at first accompanied them, but after her cousin Lola Hoppe asked her not to leave her behind, she decided to remain behind. The doctors were brought to a local cemetery and shot.
The Kielce ghetto was eventually liquidated, and Sara was moved to the smaller ghetto where 4000 people remained. She later was moved to Pionki, Poland where she worked in an ammunition factory. After a year she was sent to Auschwitz. She remained there only briefly and then moved to a forced labor camp in Germany where she worked in another factory producing dynamite. As the front got closer, Sara was continually moved westward on a death march until she reached Bergen-Belsen. She was liberated there in April 1945.
After the war, Sara remained in Germany for a short time, going to Buchenwald, where she found her Cousin Lola's husband. She then went to Sweden were she reunited with her cousin Lola. Later, she left for Palestine on the ship Haim Arlozorov. It sailed from Sweden on February 27, 1947. The British intercepted the ship and brought the passengers to Cyprus. While in Cyprus, Sara worked in a health clinic. She met and married her cousin Chaim Leichter. Chaim, who was a member of Shomer Hatzair, immigrated to Palestine in 1937 on the boat "Polania." He had served in the British army in Libya during the war. Sara and Chaim immigrated to Palestine in 1947.
