Case Study Of Solange Lebovitz

For this assignment, my group interviewed Solange Lebovitz (maiden name: Dratler). As a group, we didn’t really have to ask any questions due to the fact that she spoke freely about her experience and was very detailed. Solange Lebovitz was born in Paris, France on August 6, 1930. Her parents had two boys and four girls, which made staying together extremely difficult. Her father was from a very poor family of twelve children and his father died whenever he was a baby, so he was forced to learn a trade in order to provide his family with extra income. He chose to make custom boots and shoes, in which he lost his job whenever a large shoe company moved into town. Not much was mentioned about her mother’s family other than the fact that her maternal …show more content…
Her family was hard to follow and extremely complicated, but it seems like they had to move around a lot due to the extreme circumstances. Solange spoke very highly of the Barbiers (the French couple that took her in) and said that they took really good care of her. While she was a hidden child, they sent her to school as well as church every Sunday to ensure her safety and she received her certificate for school at the age of thirteen. She spent approximately two and a half years with that family along with a few other different couples and she was liberated on August 13, 1944. After this, she continued to stay with the Barbiers until she got news of her family. Overall, it seemed as though her family stayed relatively safe despite how dangerous it was to be a Jew during this time period. Not everyone was so lucky as most people know. Solange’s husband wasn’t as lucky and both his mother and two sisters were sent straight to the gas chambers. As a result, they moved to the United States because her husband had family in Pittsburgh. Shortly after they arrived in the United States, Solange got pregnant with her daughter and shortly after that she became pregnant with her …show more content…
I learned so much about the Holocaust, but more importantly I learned a lot about myself. Learning about the Holocaust has taught me the significance of perseverance and strength. In today’s society, I think that we tend focus on how difficult things are for us, but in reality we are very fortunate. Whenever I face tough obstacles in my life, I always try to have faith and I think that is a really important part of life. Without faith, millions of Jewish people would not have been able to get through such a horrific time. Overall, Solange’s stories made me really sad, but the fact that she survived gave me hope. It gave me hope because she preserved through a period full of hate and evil. The best part is that not only did Solange survive this horrible time, but also she and her husband made a life for their children. They made sure that their children had all of the opportunities that they didn’t have as children and her family is thriving. She has two wonderful children, four granddaughters that are in medical school, and a two-year old granddaughter. It proves that we, as humans, are truly resilient and can overcome absolutely everything. She overcame so many obstacles throughout her life, including cancer, and she still persevered and made a life for her family. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I’m really glad