us-005578-irn35078-irn35858
has or had holder: us-005578
scope and content: Contains three photographic prints: one of Joseph Lichtenfeld (donor's husband) in the uniform of Anders Army, and two photos of the donor's rescuers after World War II.
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
has record set type: Item
is or was included in: us-005578-irn35078
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn35078-irn35858/alternateIDs/2
title: Maria Rivka Chwoles Lichtenfeld collection
record resource extent: folder 1
identifier: irn35858
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn35078-irn35858/alternateIDs/1
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn35078-irn35858/acquisitions/1
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Rivka Chowles was born on February 10, 1928 in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) to Chava Leah Bruskin and Moshe Chwoles. She had five siblings: Rafael, b. 1913, Sonja, b. 1918, Helka, b. 1922, Rochhka (Rachel), b. 1925, and Chlowa (Lalka), b. 1930. The Chowles family were orthodox Jews and attended synagogue regularly. Rivka attended a public elementary school and the Technician High School where she studied decoration, composition and painting. Her brother, Rafael, was recognized as an extremely gifted artist at an early age and by 1940, was Director of the Vilna Art School. In the fall of 1939, the Soviet Union occupied this region of Poland as part of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and in October, transferred control of the region to Lithuania. Persecution of the Jewish population sharply increased. On June 24, 1941, Vilna was occupied by the Germans and their Einsatzgruppen [killing squads] with the enthusiastic support of the Lithuanians murdered thousands of Jews. The Chwoles family and the other Jews of the town were relocated to the newly established Vilna ghetto in September of 1941. Rivka and her sisters served as forced labor in the airfields. Helka managed to escape and worked for local Christians. However, neighbors became suspicious of her because they thought that she was working too hard for someone they knew was not being paid. The neighbors called the authorities and Helka was arrested. Rivka and Sonja escaped the ghetto using a borrowed identification card. Rivka left against the wishes of her father. He was extremely religious and told the family that everything would be fine and that God would save them. But one day, when their father went to pray, their mother told them to flee. After leaving the ghetto with the aid of the ID card, they gave it to a friend to use to escape. While waiting for her to return, they stayed with another Christian friend. Their friend never returned and they had to find another source of food and lodging. For a while, th…