Postwar portrait of survivors in Sighet, Romania.
Overview
- Caption
- Postwar portrait of survivors in Sighet, Romania.
Pictured (left to right) are Malka, Etu, and Tuti (daughters of Sidi (nee Scheiner). - Date
-
Circa 1946
- Locale
- Sighet, [Transylvania; Baia-Mare] Romania?
- Variant Locale
- Maramarossziget
Sziget
Hungary - Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Rachel Pearl Bitan
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Rachel Pearl Bitan
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Bella Scheiner (later Pearl) was born on August 16, 1920 in Khust, Czechoslovakia to Jewish parents Eliezer (Lazar) Scheiner (b. Sighet) and Czerna (Sharona) Bronstein (b. Bustyahauza[?], Austria). She had seven siblings: Sidi, Berta, Flora, Manci, Shmilu, Mathilda (Mati), and Emil. Sidi had four daughters: Tuti, Etu, Dvora, and Malka. Bella and her sisters attended a public school until Jews were no longer allowed to attend, while her brothers attended cheder (religious school). Lazar and Sharona owned a large property which included a store and several apartments.
In 1944, Bella and her family were sent to the ghetto in Khust, where they stayed for a month before being deported to Auschwitz. Bella spent two months in Auschwitz. Then she, her sisters Manci and Matie, and Sidi’s daughters Tuti and Malka were all sent to the labor camp Reichenbach (a sub-camp of Gross Rosen). There, Bella worked for seven months in the Telefunken electronics factory. From there, they were sent to Porta, an underground military factory. Finally they were transported by cattle car toward Zalswiegel, where they were liberated by American forces in April 1945. The three sisters and two nieces had managed to stay together through the entire period. They returned to Teplice-Shanov in the Czech Republic. Matie married Beilu Grunberger. Beilu opened a photography studio, and they shared their apartment with Bella and Mancie. Tuti and Malka left for Sighet to look for family members and found that their mother; siblings Sidi, Berta, Flora, and Emil; and their Aunt Berta had not survived.
While working at Beilu’s photography studio, Bella met David (Hersh David) Perl (b. November 3, 1922 in Slotvina, Czechoslovakia). He had been married previously, but had lost both his wife and child during the war. Bella and David married on February 16, 1946, in Teplice Shanhou. They travelled to the Gabersee D.P. camp, where their daughter Rachel was born on March 24, 1947. After nearly three years in Gabersee, they immigrated to the United States and settled in New York, where their last name was changed to Pearl. After working as a watchmaker and salesman, David opened his own home improvement store, called P+Z. They had two more children, Lawrence and Menachem. Rachel grew up in New York City and came to Israel in 1967 as a volunteer, where she met her future husband. They were married in 1971 and have three children. Bella and David eventually came to Israel as well. Bella Scheiner died in Jerusalem on March 2012.
- Record last modified:
- 2018-07-31 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1184768
