Esther Halpern

"Remember and never forget what happened in the Holocaust. If we forget, history can repeat itself again."

Name at birth

Estera Olishansky

Date of birth

08/20/1922

Where were you born?

Stare Siolo, Poland

Where did you grow up?

Stare Siolo, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Yitzchak Olishansky, Textile worker

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Eta Resnick, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents and nine children: Soril, Shaindel (Gendelman), Chaya, Chava (Feldman), Miriam, Hershel Tzvi, Leah (Fuchs), Reuven, Estera (Halpern)

How many in entire extended family?

Large extended family

Who survived the Holocaust?

Esther and her sisters Leah (Fuchs), Chava (Feldman), and brother Hershel Tzvi

During the war, the Jews in Rokitno, Stare Siolo, and Helinka thought that only the younger generation was going to be captured and killed by the Nazis. They sent the teenagers and young adults to Russia.

Esther escaped to Russia with her sister Leah and many cousins and friends. The Russians sent Esther and others who survived to a kolkhoz, a commune, in southern Ukraine. While there, she met her husband Avraham (Leon) Halpern. They were engaged the same day that they met. He proposed to her with a ring made from wire. He married her the next day in a borrowed shirt.

They had their first daughter Eta (Edi) in Russia in 1945. Their second daughter Sarah was born in Germany in 1947. Their son Yale was born in Detroit in 1953.

Esther’s entire remaining family, with the exception of three siblings, were murdered in the villages where they lived during the war.

Leon and Esther were one of the main founding members and active advocates for the first Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center. Leon and Esther Halpern were founding members of the Detroit chapter of Magen David Adom, Israel’s ambulance, blood-services, and disaster-relief organization.

Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?

In a commune in southern Russia

Where did you go after being liberated?

Germany

When did you come to the United States?

1950

Where did you settle?

Detroit, Michigan

How is it that you came to Michigan?

There was family living in Michigan before the war.

Occupation after the war

Seamstress, homemaker

When and where were you married?

Around 1944, on a collective farm in Russia. They met and were engaged in the same day. The following day, they were married using a piece of wire as a wedding ring.

Spouse

Leon Halpern, Construction business

Children

Edi Gastman, Sarah Gordon, Dr. Yale Halpern

Grandchildren

Michelle Millman, Rebecca Hayman, Dr. Brian Halpern, Jason Gordon, Dr. Sharon Ferber, Dr. Elizabeth Gordon, David Gordon, Jordan Halpern

What do you think helped you to survive?

Esther was with her sister, Leah, throughout the war. She did everything in her power so that they would both survive.

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

Remember and never forget what happened in the Holocaust. If we forget, history can repeat itself again.