Doily printed with the portrait photograph of a young bride in a displaced persons camp

Rosa Freimann was born in Łódź, Poland, on March 10, 1926. She was one of nine children. In February 1940, following Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the Jewish residents were interned in a sealed ghetto in a small section of the city, renamed Litzmannstadt. Rosa hid in a convent and considered converting to Catholicism and becoming a nun, but instead left to work as domestic under an assumed identity as a Catholic. At some point, she moved to the Warsaw ghetto. She had a false identity card under the alias Helena Krembiak, issued in February 1943. She escaped the destruction of the ghetto in spring 1943 by paying someone to smuggle her out. After the war ended in May 1945, Rosa relocated to the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany. She learned that only two sisters had survived the Holocaust. She met and married Zygmunt Schleichkorn. They had a daughter, Lilli, who was born in the camp on September 1, 1948. The family emigrated to New York at the end of 1949. Zygmunt died in New York in 1974.

Zygmunt Schleichkorn and his family lived in Bochnia, Poland. His father was a World War I (1914-18) veteran and was an invalid because of war injuries. Zygmont had to go to work as a child to help support the family. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Germans established a ghetto in Bochnia and Jews from the surrounding region were relocated there. By 1942, there were frequent deportations of Jews to concentration and death camps. The ghetto was emptied by the summer of 1943. Zygmunt, his parents, and his sister managed to escape and hide in the forest. At some point, they were discovered by the Gestapo. Only Zygmunt escaped; the rest of his family was shot and killed. After the war ended in May 1945, Zygmunt made his way to Germany and became a resident of the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp near Frankfurt. Two of his siblings did survive the war. Zygmunt met and married Rosa Freimann, who was born in 1936 in Łódź, Poland. They had a daughter, Lilli who was born in the camp on September 15, 1948. The family emigrated to New York in late 1949. Zygmunt died in New York in 1974.

Lilli Schleichkorn was born on September 15, 1948, in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany. Her parents, Rosa and Zygmont, had met and married in the camp about a year before her birth. Both parents were originally from Poland. Rose was born on March 20, 1926, in Łódź and Zygmont was from Bochnia. Both Rose and Zygmont survived the war by living in hiding under false identities. Most of their family members perished during the Holocaust. The family emigrated to New York in late 1949 when Lilli was fifteen months old. She married Jerry Cutler and has two grandchildren.

The doily was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Lilli Cutler, the daughter of Rosa and Zygmunt Schleichkorn, in 2009.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lilli Cutler