Upright, wardrobe-style trunk used by a Jewish family during their postwar emigration

Henia Rubinzon (later Alice Lev, b. 1945) was born to Efraim (later Ephraim Robinson, 1915-1985) and Sara Shpigel Ghingis (later Sarah Robinson, 1916-1984) Rubinzon in Romanovka (now Basarabeasca, Moldova), in a region known historically as Bessarabia. Following World War I (1914-1918), the region, formerly part of the Russian Empire, became part of Romania. Henia had an older half-sister, Fania (later Fay Shlimovitz ,1941-2002) and a younger brother, Joseph (later Robinson, b. 1946). Henia’s father, Efraim, was a trained agronomist who specialized in dairy. Efraim was from Warsaw, Poland, where his family sold imported perfumes and cosmetics in a store below their home. Henia’s mother, Sara, was originally from Romanovka, and had a large, extended family. Efraim was in Warsaw with his mother and brother, following his father’s death, when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Germany began bombing Warsaw daily, and an incendiary bomb destroyed the family’s apartment and store. Later that fall, German soldiers came looking for Efraim because he had a French passport from the prior year, when he studied agronomy and worked at a dairy in France. He escaped and fled alone to Soviet-controlled territory near Bialystok, Poland, and then the Donbas region (now in Ukraine). By the time he was able to obtain travel papers for his mother and brother, they were imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto and later died. Efraim convinced Soviet authorities that his French degree in agronomy was useful on a farm than in a coal mine, and he was put to work on collective farms throughout the western Soviet Union. During this time, Efraim met recently widowed Sara Shpigel Ghingis on a sovchoz [collective farm] near Tashkent (now Uzbekistan). Sara and several relatives had fled from Romanovka one day before it was invaded by German forces in July 1941. During her flight, Sara gave birth to Henia’s sister, Fania, in Novaya Odessa (now Nova Odesa, Ukraine). They continued fleeing eastward until they reached Tashkent. In 1943, Sara learned that her husband, Chaim Ghingis (1916-1941?), had died fighting in Stalingrad. Efraim and Sara married at city hall on March 3, 1944, and Efraim adopted Fania. The family was still near Tashkent when the Soviets drove German forces out of the region in 1944. All refugees there were told to return to their places of origin. Efraim did not want to return to Warsaw, so the Rubinzon family then made their way to Sara’s hometown, Romanovka. They arrived there in December 1944, after a six-week train journey. They lived with several of Sara’s surviving relatives in the home of Nachman Rapoport, her maternal grandfather. These were relatives that had initially fled with her and returned just before the Rubinzons. Any relatives that had not fled had been killed. Following the Soviet return to the region in 1944, the area was renamed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Rubinzon family was living there when Henia was born in February 1945. The war ended in Europe that May. Efraim oversaw milk and cheese production at a nearby dairy where the workers did not earn enough, due to rampant corruption. He faced mounting pressure to alter production records so the workers could steal food to feed their families. If Efraim gave into their pressure, he knew he could end up in a gulag in Siberia. He decided it was time to leave the region, and in August, he bribed a farmer with bottles of vodka to smuggle his family out of the country. The farmer got the family across the border in two trucks, likely into Soviet-occupied Romania. Once over the border, Jewish agents helped the family continue their escape. That October, the Rubinzon family was sent to Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Zeilsheim was operated by UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief Administration). While at the camp, Efraim worked as a photographer, taking hundreds of photographs of camp life. Henia’s brother, Joseph (b.1946), was born in Zeilsheim. Efraim wished to relocate to Palestine, but that was not possible because the British closed the borders to Jewish immigrants. For a time, there were plans to smuggle the family members in individually, but they did not want to be separated. Henia’s father was able to send word to his relatives in the United States to explain that he had survived. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and his relatives wanted his family to join them in the US. They sent the Rubinzon family immigration papers, so Efraim, Sara, Henia, Fania, and Joseph booked passage on the USAT General W. M. Black from Bremerhaven on October 21, 1948. The family arrived in New York City on October 30. Efraim thought that, due to his training, he would do better in “the Dairy State”, so the family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They anglicized their surname to Robinson, and Efraim and Sara also anglicized their first names to Ephraim and Sarah. Henia changed her name to Alice and Fania became Fay (Ghingis-Robinson). Ephraim worked for several companies, and in 1950, he became an independent livestock dealer. Around 1968, he became a real estate broker and opened Blue Ribbon Realty with two partners. On July 7, 1967, Alice married Abraham David Lev (Abby, b. 1944), had children, and settled in California. In 1965, Fay married Dr. Alan Shlimovitz (1941-2020) and the couple later had children. Joseph settled in Los Angeles, California. In 1995, a selection of Ephraim’s photographs of Zeilsheim were published as Das Album von Ephraim Robinson: jüdische Überlebende in DP-Lagern im Nachkriegsdeutschland (Ephraim Robinson's album: Jewish survivors in DP camps in post-war Germany).

Efraim Majer Rubinzon (later Ephraim Robinson, 1915-1985) was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Chaim (?-1939) and Henna Rubinzon. Chaim and Henna owned a store that sold imported perfumes and cosmetics, and the family lived in a comfortable apartment above it. Efraim had one younger brother, Lolik. In 1934, Efraim pursued his academic studies in France because Jewish university students were welcomed there and not in Poland. He received a Bachelor of Science in agronomy in July 1938, from the University of Nancy. He continued his studies with a year at the Dairy Industry School, and hoped to immigrate to Palestine afterwards. During the summer of 1939, Efraim was working at a dairy in Montauban Tarn-et-Garonne when his aunt wrote to tell him that his father had died unexpectedly. Efraim had maintained his Polish citizenship, and also acquired a French passport in order to work at the dairy, so he was able to quickly return to Warsaw in mid-July. He planned to liquidate the family business and return to France with his mother and brother. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and began bombing Warsaw daily. The family’s apartment and store were destroyed by an incendiary bomb, and they moved in with Efraim’s aunt. The Soviet Union, a German ally, invaded eastern Poland on September 17. Later that fall, German soldiers came looking for Efraim because of his French passport. He was able to grab a rucksack and escaped out the backdoor, but did not have a chance to say goodbye. Efraim fled, first by bicycle and then by foot, to Soviet-controlled territory near Bialystok, Poland. The situation there was slightly better, and Efraim planned to bring his mother and brother to live with him there. It was getting more difficult to cross the border, so Efraim decided that it would be best to have official entry papers for Henna and Lolik. In exchange for their papers, he agreed to work in a coal mine in the Donbas (Dombosk) region (now in Ukraine). The process to acquire the papers took a long time, but once Efraim acquired the papers, he sent them to his mother. She confirmed their receipt in a letter sent from within the Warsaw ghetto, which had been established by German authorities in October 1940. Efraim received additional letters from Henna until war broke-out following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Henna disappeared not long after and perished. Lolik also died, possibly while fighting with partisans. Efraim convinced Soviet authorities that his degree in agronomy made him more useful on a farm than in a coal mine. He was put to work dividing land for the government, breeding sheep, and overseeing the production of milk and cheese on collective farms throughout the western Soviet Union. He spent some time near Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine), as well as Tashkent (now Uzbekistan). During this time, Efraim met recently widowed Sara Shpigel Ghingis (later Sarah Robinson, 1916-1984) on a sovchoz [collective farm] near Tashkent. Sara and several relatives had fled from Romanovka in Soviet-controlled Bessarabia (now Basarabeasca, Moldova), one day before the town was invaded by German forces in July 1941. During her flight, Sara gave birth to her daughter Fania (later Fay Shlimovitz,1941-2002) in Novaya Odessa (now Nova Odesa, Ukraine). Sara’s family continued fleeing eastward until they reached the area around Tashkent. In 1943, Sara received a letter informing her that her husband, Chaim Ghingis (1916-1941?), died fighting in Stalingrad. Efraim and Sara married at city hall on March 3, 1944, and Efraim adopted Fania. The family was still near Tashkent when the Soviets drove German forces out of the region in 1944. All refugees there were told to return to their places of origin. Efraim did not want to return to Warsaw, so the Rubinzon family then made their way to Romanovka. They arrived there in December 1944, after a six-week train journey. They lived with several of Sara’s surviving relatives in the home of Nachman Rapoport, her maternal grandfather. Following the Soviet return to the region in 1944, the area was renamed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Rubinzon family was living there when their daughter, Henia (later Alice Lev, b. 1945), was born in February 1945. The war ended in Europe that May. Efraim oversaw milk and cheese production at a nearby dairy where the workers did not earn enough to properly feed their families, due to rampant corruption. He faced pressure to alter production records so the workers could steal food. Efraim faced disgruntled workers if he didn’t alter the records, but knew he could end up in a gulag in Siberia if he cheated the government. He decided it was time to leave the region, and in August, he bribed a farmer with bottles of vodka to smuggle his family out of the country. The farmer got the family across the border in two trucks, likely into Soviet-occupied Romania. Once over the border, Jewish agents helped the family continue their escape. That October, the Rubinzon family was sent to Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Zeilsheim was operated by UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief Administration). While at the camp, Efraim worked as the photographer for the camp newspaper, turning his hobby into a profession by taking hundreds of photographs. This position allowed the family to get better housing, and Efraim opened his own studio. As a fellow camp resident, Efraim was able to get many photos of daily life in the camp that outsuiders would not have been able to capture. Efraim and Sara’s son, Joseph (b.1946), was born in Zeilsheim. Efraim wished to relocate to Palestine, but that was not possible because the British closed the borders to Jewish immigrants. For a time, there were plans to smuggle the family members in individually, but they did not want to be separated. Efraim was able to send word to his Aunt Pauline and Uncle Louis Robinson in the United States to explain that he had survived. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and his relatives wanted his family to join them in the US. They sent the Rubinzon family immigration papers, so Efraim, Sara, Henia, Fania, and Joseph booked passage on the USAT General W. M. Black from Bremerhaven on October 21, 1948. The family arrived in New York City on October 30. Efraim thought that, due to his training, he would do better in “the Dairy State”, so the family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They anglicized their surname to Robinson, and Efraim and Sara also anglicized their first names to Ephraim and Sarah. Henia changed her name to Alice and Fania became Fay (Ghingis-Robinson). Ephraim worked for several companies, and in 1950, he became an independent livestock dealer. Around 1968, he became a real estate broker and opened Blue Ribbon Realty with two partners. On July 7, 1967, Alice married Abraham David Lev (Abby, b. 1944), had children, and settled in California. In 1965, Fay married Dr. Alan Shlimovitz (1941-2020) and the couple later had children. Joseph settled in Los Angeles, California. In 1995, a selection of Ephraim’s photographs of Zeilsheim were published as Das Album von Ephraim Robinson: jüdische Überlebende in DP-Lagern im Nachkriegsdeutschland (Ephraim Robinson's album: Jewish survivors in DP camps in post-war Germany).

Sara Shpigel (later Sarah Ghingis Robinson, 1916-1984) was born in Bendery, Russian Empire (now Bender, Moldova) to Josef (Yosef) and Chana Rapoport Shpigel. Josef came from a nearby town and his parents were in the grain business. He had 12 siblings. Chana came from Romanovka (now Basarabeasca, Moldova), and her parents were in the textile business. She had ten siblings. Both families lived comfortably. Sara had three older siblings, two sisters and a brother. When Sara was born, Bendery, and the wider region northwest of the Black Sea known historically as Bessarabia, was under Romanian occupation. Following World War I (1914-1918), the region became part of Romania, and Bendery became Tighina, Romania. Following the death of her maternal grandmother, her grandfather, Nachman Rapoport, convinced Sara’s parents to move back to Romanovka, where she spent much of her childhood. On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact guaranteeing that neither government would aid an enemy of the other. In September 1939, in accordance with the pact, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. On June 28, 1940, Romania, a German ally, was forced to cede Bessarabia, including Romanovka, and adjacent areas to the Soviet Union, in accordance with the earlier statements in the Molotov Ribbentrop pact. These areas were unified and renamed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. At the time, Sara had been engaged to a man name Abraham. Not long after, Abraham and his father were rounded-up as part of a group of wealthy people and sent to Siberia. His other relatives were sent east and likely perished. On November 8, Sara married Chaim Ghingis (1916-1941?) in the garden of her grandfather’s home. In June 1941, Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union, seeking to take the western part of the nation and repopulate it with Germans as part of Operation Barbarossa. Chaim and the other men in the town were conscripted into the army and forced to fight. During this invasion, Romania recaptured Bessarabia. On July 8, one day before German forces arrived in town, a pregnant Sara fled east toward Ukraine with her mother, Chana, sister, Golda, and several other family members. During the escape, Sara gave birth to Fania (later Fay Shlimovitz ,1941-2002) in Novaya Odessa (now Nova Odesa, Ukraine). Sara’s family continued fleeing eastward, traveling first by horse and wagon and later boarding a train to Uzbekistan. Once there, they made their way to Tashkent, where many Jewish refugees were living. In 1943, Sara received an official letter informing her that Chaim had died fighting in Leningrad. At this time, Sara was living on a sovchoz [collective farm] near Tashkent. While at the sovchoz, Sara met Efraim Rubinzon (later Ephraim Robinson, 1915-1985), a Polish agronomist who was dividing land for the government, breeding sheep, and overseeing the production of milk and cheese on collective farms. Efraim and Sara married at city hall on March 3, 1944, and Efraim adopted Fania. The Rubinzon family was still near Tashkent when the Soviets drove German forces out of the region in 1944. All refugees there were told to return to their places of origin. Efraim did not want to return to Warsaw, so the Rubinzon family made their way to Romanovka. They arrived there in December 1944, after a six-week train journey. They joined Sara’s mother, sister, and niece, Polina, who had left several weeks ahead of them. They all lived together in the home of Nachman Rapoport, her maternal grandfather. The building was brick, and had survived when much of the town was burned in 1941. Any of Sara’s relatives that had not fled had been killed. Following the Soviet return to the region in 1944, the area was renamed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Rubinzon family was living there when their daughter, Henia (later Alice Lev, b. 1945), was born in February 1945. The war ended in Europe that May. Efraim oversaw milk and cheese production at a nearby dairy where the workers did not earn enough to properly feed their families, due to rampant corruption. He faced pressure to alter production records so the workers could steal food. Efraim faced disgruntled workers if he didn’t alter the records, but knew he could end up in a gulag in Siberia if he cheated the government. He decided it was time to leave the region, and in August, he bribed a farmer with bottles of vodka to smuggle his family out of the country. The farmer got the family across the border in two trucks, likely into Soviet-occupied Romania. Once over the border, Jewish agents helped the family continue their escape. That October, the Rubinzon family was sent to Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Zeilsheim was operated by UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief Administration). While at the camp, Efraim worked as a photographer, turning his hobby into a profession by taking hundreds of photographs of camp life. Sara and Efraim’s son, Joseph (b. 1946), was born in Zeilsheim. Efraim wished to relocate to Palestine, but when that was not possible because the British closed the borders to Jewish immigrants. For a time, there were plans to smuggle the family members in individually, but they did not want to be separated. Efraim contacted relatives in the United States. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and his family wanted him to join them in the US. They sent the Rubinzon family immigration papers, so Efraim, Sara, Henia, Fania, and Joseph booked passage on the USAT General W. M. Black from Bremerhaven on October 21, 1948. The family arrived in New York City on October 30. After six weeks in New York City, Efraim thought that, due to his training, he would do better in “the Dairy State”, so the family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They anglicized their surname to Robinson, and Efraim and Sara also anglicized their first names to Ephraim and Sarah. Henia changed her name to Alice and Fania became Fay (Ghingis-Robinson). Ephraim worked for several companies, and in 1950, he became an independent livestock dealer. Around 1968, he became a real estate broker and opened Blue Ribbon Realty with two partners. On July 7, 1967, Alice married Abraham David Lev (Abby, b. 1944), had children, and settled in California. In 1965, Fay married Dr. Alan Shlimovitz (1941-2020) and the couple later had children. Joseph settled in Los Angeles, California. She earned a college degree in art, and published children's books, as well as a memoir. Joseph settled in Los Angeles, California. In 1995, a selection of Ephraim’s photographs of Zeilsheim were published as Das Album von Ephraim Robinson: jüdische Überlebende in DP-Lagern im Nachkriegsdeutschland (Ephraim Robinson's album: Jewish survivors in DP camps in post-war Germany).

The wardrobe trunk was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Alice R. Lev, the daughter of Ephraim M. and Sarah G. Robinson.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Alice Robinson Lev

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.