Lily Fenster Oral History

Lily Fenster Oral History

An interview with Lily Fenster, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Lily Fenster was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1926. After the German invasion of Poland, Lily, along with her mother, father and five sisters, was placed in the Warsaw Ghetto. After some time, Lily was able to escape from the ghetto, leaving her family behind. In the ghetto, her four sisters died from hunger and her father disappeared. After making her way to Luków Podlaski, Lily was able to work on a farm and raised enough money to have her mother smuggled out of the ghetto. Within six weeks of the reunion, Lily's mother was deported to Treblinka where she died. Lily, having obtained a Kennkarte, and hiding among the gentile population, was able to evade capture. After her mother's deportation, Lily moved into the main city of Luków Podlaski, where she obtained work as a nurse until the Russian liberation. While in Luków Podlaski she met her future husband. After the war, Lily made her way to Lódz and then on to Germany. She emigrated to the United States in 1951

Bolkosky, Sidney M

Fenster, Lily

1994-01-11