Survivor Summary #1 Tiffani Calvisky

Tiffani Calvisky
Holocaust Survivor Ursula Levy
Date: March 3rd 1997
Interviewer: Marie Kaurfman
Location: Beverly Hill CA
Ursula Levy was born in Usnerburk, Germany on May 11, 1935. Her father was Marks Levy, her mother was Lucia-May Levy, and her brother was George Levy. The earliest memory Ursula has of her father was when she was three. Her father was in the hospital because he was captured by German Nazi’s and thrown into a concentration camp in November of 1938. He spent a month there being badly beaten and neglected. She says in the interview, “My father would not even look at us while we were at the hospital to visit because he did not want us to see how bad he looked.” After her father died in March of 1939, her mother feared for her two children’s safety. She called her friend, Mr. Vannecklanburg, to help get her children out of Germany. Three weeks later in the spring of 1939, Ursula and her brother George took a train to Holland where they were place in a children’s home called Hifliat. At this home there were a hundred children. Fifty of those children were Dutch, forty-five were part Jewish, and five were full Jewish, including Ursula and her brother. Those Five children were sent to concentration camps. Of the five that were sent, Ursula and George were the only survivors. She spoke about how aweful it was there. Every day she would stand for hours while the Nazi’s would “inspect” every crevice of their living areas. Ursula said, “If they found one wrinkle in our beds, they beat you until death. We saw trucks full of carcasses daily.” Inspite the horrific images she has burnt into her memory, one specific day stood out to her more than any other. On May 11, 1943 she and her brother got called into the office and there was a man there waiting to see her and George. It was Mr. Vannecklanburg. He told the commandant “There’s no way these children are Jewish? Look at their blond hair and blue eyes. They are half catholic. Their father is working in America.” Because of this lie that Vannecklanburg told to them, Ursula and her brother were freed. Today Ursula had grown to teach her children and grandchildren the importance of learning and understanding the holocaust. She taught the essence of helping those less fortunate but it wasn’t until she was about forty that she really began to feel comfort and peace with what happened to her and her brother while they were growing up.