us-005578-irn514218
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Blanka Lifschütz was born in Lwów, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine) on September 8, 1931 to Adolf (Dolek) and Fajgl Fania (Franka or Franciszka, née Szwarcwald) Lifschütz. Adolf was a business man and the Lifschütz family owned a mill in Brody. Fania was one of five children of Aron and Bela Szwarcwald. Aron Szwarcwald was a businessman who owned sawmills. Fania’s siblings included brothers: Welty, Abe, and Markus, and her sister Sala Filer, who lived in Przemysl. Dolek Lifschütz and Fania Szwarcwald married in 1929, but divorced in 1935. Fania re-married around 1937 to Szymon Eksztajn, a wealthy businessman. From 1939-1941, Szymon ran a mill with his brother Zygmunt, while Fania stayed at home. Blanka had a governess. After the German invasion of Russia in June 1941 a ghetto was established in Lwów. The Eksztajn family for forced into the ghetto in September 1941. Szymon found a room for himself, Fania, Blanka, Klara Ehrlich and her daughter Maryla, and Aron Szwarcwald. During one of the ghetto aktions , Blanka, Klara, and Maryla were hidden but Aron was taken away. In November 1942, during the final aktion Fania and Szymon decided to leave. Their Polish neighbors in Lwów, Judge Andrzej Slowik and his wife, arranged for false papers for Fania and Blanka. Szymon, who worked at the train station for Austrians loading animal skins received Austrian Ausweisses from an Austrian soldier, and remained in the ghetto. In November 1942, Fania and Blanka with the assistance of the Slowik family and using their false identities (Blanka became Zofia Mikusinska and her mother became Elzbieta Mikusinska), took the train to Krakow, where they stayed for two months. They were blackmailed and decided to go to Warsaw, where they were able to stay for the next ten months. Fania had gold coins given to her by her father as well as jewelry, which helped them to survive and to pay off several blackmail attempts. In the spring of 1943, a Polish woman, “Pani Majorowa”, who was the wife of a Major in…
date: circa 1930-1972
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: pol
has or had subject: 278
has or had subject: 701
has or had subject: 843
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn514218
record resource extent: folder 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The papers consist of 17 photographs and 10 documents relating to the experiences of Blanka and Fania Eckstein before, during, and after the Holocaust.
title: Blanka and Fania Eckstein papers