Lena Choynowska was born in Lviv as Lena Alter. Her father, Rachmiel, died in Bełżec; her mother, Gustawa, and older sister survived the war. Before the war, the family lived on Łyczakowska Street in Lviv, and from 1941 on Słoneczna Street in the ghetto. Lena Choynowska left the ghetto with her mother during its liquidation (her sister had escaped earlier) and lived and worked in the village of Wiśniewo with a peasant woman, Andzia, and her family until the end of the war. They took her in because her mother agreed to go to Germany to work for Andzia; for health reasons, she was not sent there, however, and worked as a maid in Warsaw. In the winter of 1945, she brought Lena and her sister to Warsaw, but due to the poor economic situation, in April Lena Choynowska ended up in a Jewish children's home in Zatrzebie. Her sister got a job in Katowice, and Lena Choynowska started school there. She studied journalism at the University of Warsaw, and after graduation worked in radio in Katowice; she married twice, and has a daughter, Kasia. Her sister emigrated to Australia, and when she had a child, her mother moved there too. Lena Choynowska visited her sister in Australia for the first time in 1964. In retirement, she was involved in the Association of Children of the Holocaust. She passed away in 2023. INTERVIEWEE'S NAME: Lena Choynowska INTERVIEWED BY: Józef Markiewicz RECORDING: Piotr Boruszkowski DATE OF RECORDING: August 5, 2019 COPYRIGHT TO THE RECORDING: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews 00:01:11 - The beginning of the war; learning to read and write. 00:02:21 - Photo of the interlocutor's sister. 00:04:00 - Leaving the ghetto, Helping Eugenia Węgrzyn, and the interlocutor's sister leaving the ghetto. English: 00:06:18 - Meeting with a Gestapo officer at the train station; return to the ghetto. 00:10:26 - Liquidation of the ghetto; the interlocutor and her mother leave the ghetto; help from a watchman. 00:13:27 - The interlocutor is handed over to the care of a florist and the mother leaves Lviv. 00:15:22 - The interlocutor is thrown out by the florist; shelter with Eugenia’s family; stay in Warsaw. 00:18:30 - Stay in the village of Wiśniewo. 00:21:38 - The interlocutor’s mother works in Warsaw. 00:22:30 - Meeting with the mother in Warsaw. 00:23:54 - The mother arrives in Wiśniewo; finding the interlocutor’s sister. 00:26:31 - Placement in an orphanage in Zatrzebie. 00:28:06 - Move to Katowice; the interlocutor’s documents. English: 00:32:31 - Friendship with Nata Zygielman; Jewish club and choir in Katowice. 00:35:50 - Studies in Warsaw; 00:38:55 - Work at the radio in Katowice; Nata's expulsion from the Film School and her subsequent fate. 00:41:16 - Contact with Nata and her arrival in Poland; Nata's death. 00:42:56 - Contact with her sister in Australia; the interlocutor's family. 00:46:30 - Emigration of the interlocutor's sister and mother to Australia. 00:48:21 - The interlocutor's marriage; visit to Australia. 00:51:00 - Decision to stay in Poland; correcting personal data. 00:52:34 - Work at the radio; March 1968. 00:55:54 - Life in retirement. English: 00:57:45 - The interlocutor's family home; information about the interlocutor's family. 01:02:17 - The fate of the interlocutor's father. 01:07:41 - The fate of the interlocutor's grandparents; 01:08:25 - The interlocutor's mother's memories of the ghetto. 01:09:11 - Efforts to obtain compensation for property left behind in Lviv: names of the interlocutor's family members, archival searches. 01:18:23 - Moving to the ghetto; memories from the ghetto: hideout, roundup. 01:24:12 - Leaving the ghetto to get false documents; methods of camouflage for the interlocutor's mother. 01:27:04 - Living conditions in the ghetto; living in barracks; hideout in a hole dug. 01:30:16 - The interlocutor's sister's departure for Germany; the post-war fate of Eugenia; the fate of the Gestapo officer from the Warsaw station and his daughter. English: 01:37:11 - Breaking with Jewish identity after the war. 01:38:34 - The interlocutor's involvement in the Association of Children of the Holocaust. 01:45:47 - Actions in the Lviv ghetto. 01:48:25 - Contacts with TSKŻ; Congress of Children of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. 01:51:22 - The impact of the Holocaust experiences on the interlocutor's life. 01:53:57 - Attitude towards Jewish religion and tradition. 01:58:19 - Visits to Lviv after the war. 02:01:08 - Reflection on the war experiences. Discover the POLIN Museum's oral history collection: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... Subscribe to our channel: / @historiamowionapolin Watch the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews channels: POLIN (announcements and reports from events at the Museum): / mhzp2013 Virtual Shtetl (history and culture of Polish Jews): / wirtualneshtetl Polish Righteous (stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust): / polscysprawiedliwi