Liz Lippa
“I was born in Vienna, Austria in January 1938 and was weeks old when Hitler marched into Vienna and began to make life miserable for the Jewish population. After Kristallnacht, my father realized that we had to leave if we would survive. He did what he had to do to get us the proper documents and passage to Montevideo, Uruguay. My family lived there during the war and was able to come to the U.S. in 1946. My uncles, who had been released from the Nazi labor camps (thanks to a letter from Justice Louis Brandeis to the Nazis) had made their way to Richmond, Virginia, and brought us there. I am now blessed with six children, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, none of whom would exist if I had not been saved from certain death in 1939.”
Sadly, Liz passed away on December 18, 2015 after a long battle with cancer. She was recognized as a docent, actress and storyteller in the St. Louis community and a long-time volunteer at OASIS and the SL Holocaust Survivors and Descendants group. She was a gentle loving soul who touched many in our community and as a result made their lives better.
You can learn more about Liz’s story through her interviews as part of the Museum’s Oral History Project.