Beth Lippman presents an expansive and compelling story about her mother’s experiences and survival during the Holocaust. Her mother, Basia Lemberger, was born in Lodz, Poland in 1925. She had a younger sister and brother. 

Basia had a difficult childhood. She was very aware of antisemitism and poverty in her life.

She and her sister Laya registered for a forced labor camp with the false promise that her parents would receive compensation. She never saw her parents again after 1940. She was in a labor camp in the Posnan area in Poland for 3 years working on construction projects for the Reich.

When the labor was completed, Basia was deported to Auschwitz where she was imprisoned for 2 years. In 1945, after a death march from Auschwitz to Ravensbruck, she was able to escape and eventually get to an orphanage in France.

Basia came to the United States sponsored by an uncle in New York, and found she had to make her own way.

She married and had a family, but suffered greatly from her traumatic experiences.

Beth lives East of Seattle, and has two grown children, including a son who lives in the area.  She feels gratified to share her mother's story, which she began hearing at a very young age.