Henia Lewin photographs

Identifier
irn511879
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2006.144
Dates
1 Jan 1936 - 31 Dec 1946
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Henia Wisgardisky (now Henia Lewin) is the daughter of Jona and Gita (Salat) Wisgardisky from Kovno, Lithuania. In the summer of 1941 soon after the German invasion of Lithuania, the Wisgardisky family was forced into the Kovno ghetto. During the Children's Action of 1942, Henia was hidden in a secret room that her father built in a pantry in their apartment. Later she was smuggled out of the ghetto and placed with the Stankiewicz family. Jonas Stankiewicz had worked as the foreman in Jona Wisgardisky's chemical plant before the war, and had taken it over after the occupation. After successfully securing a hiding place for their daughter, the Wisgardiskys fled from the ghetto. They found refuge on a potato farm, where they lived in a root cellar. After the war they recovered Henia from the Stankiewicz family and made their way to Germany. For several years they lived in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp before emigrating to Palestine. Later the family moved to Canada.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

Henia Lewin donated these photographs to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in 1995.

Scope and Content

Contains eight pre-war, wartime, and post-war photographs depicting Henia Wisgardisky and her family of Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.