Riverdale Holocaust survivor Lisa Baer shares story of survival through never-before-seen documents
NEW YORK - A German Holocaust survivor is sharing decades old documents that show her family's direct path of fleeing antisemitism. For the very first-time, she and the Museum of Jewish Heritage are sharing her journey through them.
"I'm the last one remaining of this generation I was the youngest," explains 96-year-old Riverdale resident Lisa Baer.
Life prevails for Baer, a testament of never letting go of who you are no matter the cost.
"This is the only proof that I've existed. I don't have a birth certificate," said Baer.
Baer shows CBS New York a look at the Nazi Germany passport she was given in her early teens. It's the only original document identifying her.
"Just to be sure there's no mistake about it… it has the J obviously for Jew," Baer shows us.
She's held onto the passport for 83 years, along with the other hundreds of papers that tell the story of the numerous avenues and roadblocks Lisa's mother and sisters took to flee antisemitism.
"She had to fill out lists of what was on her body, in terms of her shirts her pants, the bra she was wearing, is all listed right here," said Rebecca Frank, a Curatorial Research Assistant at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
All the objects you see are courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a gift from Lisa Stern Baer and her family.
CBS New York got a firsthand exclusive look at Baer's documents that were donated and now curated at the museum. Touched cautiously and only with gloves, the museum says it's all in an effort to preserve stories like Baer's.
"Hearing about the fact that it was so hard to leave Nazi Germany, but to actually see it and see the different letters, and different documents, the family had to get it makes the history so much more real," said Frank.
After surviving Kristallnacht, through the help of strangers and relatives, Baer's family made it to the U.S. after the rigorous process both German and American governments put them through.
"Of course there was an immediate rush for quota numbers to come to America," explained Baer when her family first tried to escape to the United States. "It was in 2 or 3 weeks, the quotas were filled 2 or 3 years ahead,"
Baer, her sisters, and mother managed to get airplane tickets from Frankfurt to Lisbon, with a stop over in Barcelona. Documents show the trail of money getting funds from people in the United States to Baer's family to help them get over.
With these documents, Baer's story will continue to be told for generations.
"Not only did we survive, we have families and great grand children all over the place," said Baer.
You can email Shosh with Bronx story ideas by CLICKING HERE.
