Beba’s Life: “How should I tell you?” (by Tiffany)

Author's Note:

Beba Levanthal, so graciously, met with us and allowed us to interview her about her life before, during and after the war. She was very reflective and careful in telling us the story, ensuring that we understood the historic and personally painful details of the war. She would often pause and wonder aloud saying, “How should I tell you?” She would take a few moments to recollect and frame her memoried before proceeding with her responses. When I remember the afternoon and meeting with her, I can hear her voice, soft and pondering about how to best tell her story and how to share such precious and personal memories.

All about Beba:

Beba Leventhal, was born Beba Epstein in Vilna, Poland on December 19, 1923. Her hometown is now Vilnius, Lithuania. As child, she received a Polish education; it a was a private education and she liked school. In 1939, when she was 16 years old, Russia invaded and took over her town. Her father, who was a banker, lost his job because Russia, as a communist state, did not have banks. Stores were scarce and he would have a hard time finding a new job and a means of supporting his wife, 2 daughters and 2 sons. Beba remarked that the two years under Russian rule were not bad, and although her parents hated this time, it was nothing in comparison to what was to come when the war broke out in 1941.

Vilna was located on a river and often would take boats to nearby towns. On the night of her graduation, she was traveling back home with classmates from their celebration. As the steamship neared home, she and the other students were shocked by the German bombardment of the city. It was June 21^st. The war had begun and had reached her town. Under German occupation, Jewish people were subject to a curfew, which if broken, would result in death. Beba’s family was moved into a ghetto. Being the eldest, and a recent graduate, her family arranged for her to live at an estate with family friends on the Arian side. She escaped the cramped and brutal conditions of the ghetto in which all of the Jewish population was crammed into a small dense area of apartment buildings and at times up to 20 people in one apartment. During her stay at the estate, she received letters from her family every few weeks. Each letter was a reminded that they were alive and well even when she was so far from them. When the letters stopped, she decided she must return and look for her family. Despite the urging of her hosts, she insisted that she would return to the ghetto to look for her family. This mean leaving the safety of the estate as well as the clerical job she held. She dressed in peasant clothes and took a horse back to the ghetto. She found an aunt and an uncle in the town, but could not locate her parents and siblings. Her uncle found out that they had all been killed.

Beba remained in the ghetto. During her time here, she worked and was a member of an underground group. The underground organization was a group of youths who tried to recuirt young people to fight against the Germans. They were overall, unsuccessful because the majority of the ghetto population was against them. It was too dangerous and risky. The German soldiers would often threaten to simply destroy the whole ghetto; because the Jewish people were forced into such a condensed area, it would not be difficult, they implied, to drop a few bombs and wipe out the entire ghetto. This fear, and real danger that it held was too much and the organization faded. (Though this effort was refuted, it was only the beginning of Beba’s dedication to helping people in need and working for a good cause. She had the tenacity and dedication and would use these later in her life after the war.) She mentioned that her underground group was like that of the group depicted in the recent film, Defiance. Although it is very different in details, the group she was a part of had the same idea and goals as the one of the movie. The struggle of underground groups to fight during the war was very real, and Beba was a fighter.

Her work in the ghetto was part of an assigned worker group. The groups would meet in the morning, line up and walk together to the factory. In the factory, they were making bullets for the soldiers. But knowing that the war was not stagnant, they were always aware of the moving troops and the possibility of the war reaching them. When the troops were getting too close, production needed to be moved. The workers were moved to a new location, but when the machinery that was to follow never reached there, the workers were sent to a concentration camp. When the camp was liquidated, the people were all loaded onto a small dingy boats. They were shipped off and when they reached a northern part of Germany, they stopped short of shore. The people were forced to jump out of the boats and walk in waist high water towards the shore. Beba waded towards shore while being shot at by the soldiers. She had to walk with her back turned to the enemies shooting at her and make her way towards shore, hoping to make it to freedom.

The land they had reached was occupied by British forces. This meant she was finally free. But although the worst was behind her, she could not simply return to life as it was before the war. Doctors were waiting on shore to receive the former concentration camp victims. She was examined immediately had was found to have typhus (Beba nonchanlantly told us “I guess I was sick.”). She did not want this to stop her, but she was forced by doctors to remain in a military hospital nearby. Many people on the trip from the camp onto the boats were not a lucky as Beba, and had died. However, Beba’s determination and spunk would not allow her to simply sit in a dirty military hospital and just wait for things to get better. She would often tell her friends, “Bring me my boots!” and hoped to escape the hospital. Eventually, she was well enough to leave for Sweden, but became sick once again and had to stay in a hospital in there. The hospital in Sweden was much nicer and she noted that arriving there, out of the military hospital and into a Red Cross facility, that it was “already a different life.” The bed she occupied had crisp, clean white sheets which she hadn’t seen in years. The stark contrast of the grimey laborious life in the ghetto and camps was nothing like this new place.

She knew of the Jewish Committee in Stockholm and reached out to them for help. She had learned the language and been attending university and working in a bank when her uncle (her father’s brother), who was already in the US, located her. He urged her to move and attend university in America. This would mean leaving the life she had made for herself after her experience, and braving a long journey to somewhere she had never been, but eventually she made the move to New York City.. ( In order to be able to move, she would need an affidavit of an established family or company to say that they would be responsible for her and her move. Distant relatives, owners of MaidenForm bras, enabled her to come). Instantly she knew it was a “crazy country.” New York was so loud and dirty; nothing like what she had grown accustomed to and fond of in Sweden. The people were certainly not as open and friendly and the subway rides to her new job dirtied her clean white blouse before she could even get to work. After a move to Brooklyn and continuing her work, she met her future husband.

Beba and Lee Levanthal decided to marry. The moved to Los Angeles when he enrolled in USC graduate school in engineering. She went to school while working full time. They have two children who reside in L.A. as well as two grandchildren. This year, they will be celebrating 62 years of marriage. Each big marker in their lives, they are not shy to celebrate. In her living room are several photo albums of past celebrations for their 50^th anniversary, 65^th anniversary, her 80^th birthday and many others. The walls are covered in artwork from her dear uncle who brought her to the US and who had a large impact on her life. Their home is full of love, memory, and compassion.

Beba, while living in L.A., worked for Jewish Family Services for several years helping people to immigrate and settle here. Her knowledge of 5 languages helped her to communicate with the recent immigrants and to assist them. When she returned to school, she pursued social work so that she could further help people. The Leventhals enjoy theater, music recitals, and going to community functions in Pacific Palisades. Beba admits that she now loves it here, L.A. being much better than her experience in New York. The loves her proximity to the beach and the valley view from her home. She is still so happy and her warm personality is inviting to all.

I intend to keep in touch with Beba. She is a wonderful woman and I am truly grateful for having met her. It opened my eyes, hearing about her life, and her outstanding perseverance.