Lea Derszowicz memoirs

Lea Derszowicz (1912-1988) was born on 9 December 1912 in Dzików, Tarnobrzeg, Poland to Wolf (1876-1942) and Anna (1880-1942, née Monheit) Eberstark. She had several siblings including Shimon (1902-1943), Eliezer (1905-1943), and Chaim (1922-1943). Her father was a merchant and she was raised in a Hasidic household. Around 1936, Lea married Pinkus Derszowicz (b. 1908 to Leib and Gital Derszowicz) and their first daughter Minia (later Mina Shapiro) was born in 1938. From December 1941-December 1942 Lea, Pinkus, and Minia were in the Dębica ghetto. In December 1942 Lea and Pinkus were deported to the Pustków concentration camp. Pinkus was deported to Auschwitz in March 1943. From 1946-1951 the Derszowicz family resided in a DP camp in Antwerp, Belgium. Their second daughter Gisela (later Giselle Hochstein) was born in 1951, and in December they immigrated to the United States aboard the MV Vulcania. Lea’s parents and siblings all perished in the Holocaust. The collection consists of two handwritten memoirs written by Lea Derszowicz (née Eberstark) describing her experiences in Poland, primarily in Dzików, Tarnobrzeg, the Dębica ghetto, and the Pustków concentration camp. Her writings chronicle some of her personal background and her family’s experiences during the early years of World War II including life in the Dębica ghetto, forced-labor, relatives searching for family after being separated, dressing as a boy to sneak out of Dębica with the aid of others to procure food to smuggle back in, deportation to Pustków, her brother getting shot for stealing, getting separated from her husband Pinkus and her daughter Minia, and fleeing on a train with the help of a man who helped conceal her identity. Lea began her first memoir in 1947, but found it emotionally very difficult and stopped. She started her second memoir around 1977. Both memoirs are handwritten in Yiddish. Included with the collection is a photocopy of an English translation of the second diary by Lea’s daughter Giselle. Copyright Holder: Mr. Zev Shapiro