Gina Rappaport memoir

Gina Rappaport (later Leitersdorf, 1921-2012) was living with her family in Kraków, Poland, when Germany invaded in September 1939. Gina and her family continued living in Kraków for some time under Nazi occupation before fleeing to Tarnów, Poland, where they continued to live under German occupation in the Tarnów ghetto, suffering under the Nazi actions which took place in the summer of 1941. Gina escaped to Lvov (now Lviv, Ukraine) to find work, but returned after hearing from her mother that her family had received papers to immigrate to Palestine. A few months after returning to Tarnów, the family was told to appear at the police station to go to Palestine, but instead was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The family spent two years at Bergen-Belsen as prisoners. Gina was also a teacher for other incarcerated persons while in the camp. In April 1945, Gina and her family were taken from Bergen-Belsen and placed on a train. They were liberated by the United States Army after seven days on the train, and Gina, who spoke several languages, offered to act as an interpreter between the train survivors and Sergeant George C. Gross, leader of the 743rd tank battalion. She was encouraged by her liberators to write down her experiences, which she did on the letterhead of the Commandant Hillersleben, the former German military base where the prisoners recuperated. Gina later immigrated to Palestine, where she had her family.

Yad ṿa-shem, rashut ha-zikaron la-Shoʼah ṿela-gevurah

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Yoav Leitersdorf

Yoav Leitersdorf donated a copy of his grandmother's memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on 12 Dec. 2009.