United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Jerry Lista (born Israel Cymbalista, 1927-2017) was born on 8 December 1927 in Góra Kalwaria, Poland to Jakob Moshe and Sara Cymbalista. He has six siblings: Toba, Friedel, Shoshana, Rivka (Rena), Mendel, and Perla. Jerry grew up in an Orthodox household and his father owned a store. Prior to World War II, his sister Shoshana immigrated to Palestine. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the family briefly went to Warsaw before returning to Góra Kalwaria. They were deported to the Góra Kalwaria ghetto. From there the family escaped to Radom where Jerry was sent to a forced labor camp. When the ghetto was liquidated in 1942, Jerry witnessed his parents and two of his sisters being deported to the Treblinka extermination camp where they perished. His brother Mendel also perished during the Holocaust. His sisters Toba and Rena survived, but Toba was murdered when she returned to Poland after the war. Jerry was deported to several camps including Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Vaihingen, Hessental, and München-Allach. On a death march in 1945, he was shot in the leg and left for dead. He was picked up the next day and taken to the hospital at Dachau, where his leg was later amputated due to infection. Shortly after the amputation the camp was liberated by the United States Army. After liberation, Jerry went to several displaced persons camps, primarily in Munich. He reunited with his sister Rena and they lived together in Munich where he studied to become a dental technician. She immigrated to the United States, and he followed in 1951. They both settled in Denver, Colorado. Jerry worked at the Samsonite factory for several years, but later worked in an investment banking firm. He went to visit his sister Shoshana in Israel in 1958. While in Israel he met Gyta Szmulewicz (later Judy Lista, b. 1928), daughter of Shmuel and Chaja Szmulewicz, whose family immigrated to Palestine prior to the German annexation of Danzig. They married in three months later, and settled in Denver where they had one daughter, Sharon.
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The collection is arranged as two series. Biographical materials, 1927-1992. Photographs, circa 1910-1977.
The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Jerry Lista (born Israel Cymbalista) in displaced persons camps near Munich, Germany; his immigration to the United States in 1951; his marriage to Gyta Szmulewicz (later Judy Lista) in 1958; and Judy’s immigration to the United States. Also included is a document regarding Jerry’s leg amputation after getting shot and left for dead on a death march in 1945. Photographs include pre-war depictions of the Cymbalista and Szmulewicz families, Jerry in a DP camp, and Judy in Israel. Additionally, there is a Dachau DP identification card of Nuchim (Nathan) Ehlender, a former boyfriend of Jerry’s sister Rena.
Lista Family papers