PHOTO GALLERY
This map of Prewar Poland (1924–1938) identifies Kozhnitz and other small towns and cities that were significant in the course of Khil (Harry) Lenga’s life in Poland before the war. Creative Commons.
Mikhoel Lenga, 36, with sons Mailekh (left), 10, and Itshele (right), 11, 1924, when the boys were leaving home in Kozhnitz to go to yeshiva in another town. Lenga family collection.
Hirsh Leib, a water carrier in Kozhnitz, circa 1938. According to other Kozhnitzer townspeople, Hirsh Leib toiled and suffered and joked with everyone. He and his wife supported an only son who studied day and night in the yeshiva until he became a recognized scholar. Many Jews in Kozhnitz “looked on [Hirsh Leib’s son] proudly, as if he were city property. Wasn’t he the son of the water carrier of all of them?” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sabina and Samuel Goldstein.
Wartime Kozhnitz, circa 1940. Note sign on top left with clock. Across the bottom it says “Michal Lenga.” This was the family store where the Lenga family worked and lived in Kozhnitz. Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.
Mikhoel Lenga with his daughter Khana Lenga in Kozhnitz, circa 1940. This photo is from a collection of negatives found in a Kozhnitz cellar in 2000. This is the only existing photo of Khana. Photo by Haim Berman.
Khil (Harry) Lenga (left) with his best friend Khamaira Salzberg (right) during the summer of 1941 in the Kozhnitz ghetto. Lenga family collection.
Jews from Hungary undergo selection upon arrival on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, May 1944. Photo by Bernhardt Walter/Ernst Hofmann. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Yad Vashem.
Watchmaker’s screwdriver and tweezers, made in Auschwitz from materials available in the camp by Chaim Shtatler, a Jewish prisoner. Photo by Scott Lenga.
U.S. Army Sergeant Dick Pomante (left) and Platoon Sergeant Robert Persinger (right), Germany, 1945—the commanders of the two tanks that liberated the Ebensee concentration camp. Persinger family collection.
Survivors of Ebensee concentration camp, May 8, 1945—two days after liberation. Khil (Harry) Lenga is the marked person closer to the right. Moishe (Morris) Lenga is the marked person closer to the center. Photo by J. Malan Heslop. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park.
From the left: Moishe (Morris), Mailekh (Marcel), and Khil (Harry) Lenga in either Rome or Stuttgart, circa 1945. Lenga family collection.
From the left in the car: Izak, Khil (Harry), and Moishe (Morris) Lenga in Stuttgart, circa 1947, during the period when all four of the Lenga brothers were reunited after the war. Lenga family collection.
Wedding of Harry and Dorothy Lenga, St. Louis, Missouri, 1950. Photo by Edwin H. Balk.
From the left: Dorothy, Scott, Michael, Harry, and Mark Lenga at Michael’s Bar Mitzvah, St. Louis, Missouri, 1964. Photo by Edwin H. Balk.
Extended family wedding of Morris and Ann Lenga’s daughter, Margi, to Michael Kahn, St. Louis, Missouri, 1975. Front row: Morris, Ann, Margi, Bobbie, Dorothy, and Harry Lenga. Second row: Marcel, Violet, Yitzkhak, and Riva Lenga. Back row: Monique, Mark, Patricia, and Scott Lenga. Photo by Joel Marion.
The four Lenga brothers at the wedding of Margi Lenga, St. Louis, Missouri, 1975. From the left: Morris, Marcel, Harry, and Yitzkhak Lenga. This was their first and only reunion after they said their goodbyes in Stuttgart around 1948. Photo by Joel Marion.
Harry Lenga shows the tattoo he received in Auschwitz-Birkenau to students at Christian Brothers High School in St. Louis, circa 1985. Photo by David Oughton.
Close up of the number—A19367—that was tattooed on Harry Lenga’s arm upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, circa 1985. Photo by David Oughton.
Harry Lenga and his son Scott Lenga in San Francisco, California, 1993, during the week of intensive interviews that formed the basis of this book. Photo by Carrie Lenga.
In memoriam. Gravestone of Harry Lenga, Raanana, Israel. Photo by Scott Lenga.
This map of Prewar Poland (1924–1938) identifies Kozhnitz and other small towns and cities that were significant in the course of Khil (Harry) Lenga’s life in Poland before the war. Creative Commons.
Mikhoel Lenga, 36, with sons Mailekh (left), 10, and Itshele (right), 11, 1924, when the boys were leaving home in Kozhnitz to go to yeshiva in another town. Lenga family collection.
Hirsh Leib, a water carrier in Kozhnitz, circa 1938. According to other Kozhnitzer townspeople, Hirsh Leib toiled and suffered and joked with everyone. He and his wife supported an only son who studied day and night in the yeshiva until he became a recognized scholar. Many Jews in Kozhnitz “looked on [Hirsh Leib’s son] proudly, as if he were city property. Wasn’t he the son of the water carrier of all of them?” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sabina and Samuel Goldstein.
Wartime Kozhnitz, circa 1940. Note sign on top left with clock. Across the bottom it says “Michal Lenga.” This was the family store where the Lenga family worked and lived in Kozhnitz. Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.
Mikhoel Lenga with his daughter Khana Lenga in Kozhnitz, circa 1940. This photo is from a collection of negatives found in a Kozhnitz cellar in 2000. This is the only existing photo of Khana. Photo by Haim Berman.
Khil (Harry) Lenga (left) with his best friend Khamaira Salzberg (right) during the summer of 1941 in the Kozhnitz ghetto. Lenga family collection.
Jews from Hungary undergo selection upon arrival on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, May 1944. Photo by Bernhardt Walter/Ernst Hofmann. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Yad Vashem.
Watchmaker’s screwdriver and tweezers, made in Auschwitz from materials available in the camp by Chaim Shtatler, a Jewish prisoner. Photo by Scott Lenga.
U.S. Army Sergeant Dick Pomante (left) and Platoon Sergeant Robert Persinger (right), Germany, 1945—the commanders of the two tanks that liberated the Ebensee concentration camp. Persinger family collection.
Survivors of Ebensee concentration camp, May 8, 1945—two days after liberation. Khil (Harry) Lenga is the marked person closer to the right. Moishe (Morris) Lenga is the marked person closer to the center. Photo by J. Malan Heslop. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park.
From the left: Moishe (Morris), Mailekh (Marcel), and Khil (Harry) Lenga in either Rome or Stuttgart, circa 1945. Lenga family collection.
From the left in the car: Izak, Khil (Harry), and Moishe (Morris) Lenga in Stuttgart, circa 1947, during the period when all four of the Lenga brothers were reunited after the war. Lenga family collection.
Wedding of Harry and Dorothy Lenga, St. Louis, Missouri, 1950. Photo by Edwin H. Balk.
From the left: Dorothy, Scott, Michael, Harry, and Mark Lenga at Michael’s Bar Mitzvah, St. Louis, Missouri, 1964. Photo by Edwin H. Balk.
Extended family wedding of Morris and Ann Lenga’s daughter, Margi, to Michael Kahn, St. Louis, Missouri, 1975. Front row: Morris, Ann, Margi, Bobbie, Dorothy, and Harry Lenga. Second row: Marcel, Violet, Yitzkhak, and Riva Lenga. Back row: Monique, Mark, Patricia, and Scott Lenga. Photo by Joel Marion.
The four Lenga brothers at the wedding of Margi Lenga, St. Louis, Missouri, 1975. From the left: Morris, Marcel, Harry, and Yitzkhak Lenga. This was their first and only reunion after they said their goodbyes in Stuttgart around 1948. Photo by Joel Marion.
Harry Lenga shows the tattoo he received in Auschwitz-Birkenau to students at Christian Brothers High School in St. Louis, circa 1985. Photo by David Oughton.
Close up of the number—A19367—that was tattooed on Harry Lenga’s arm upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, circa 1985. Photo by David Oughton.
Harry Lenga and his son Scott Lenga in San Francisco, California, 1993, during the week of intensive interviews that formed the basis of this book. Photo by Carrie Lenga.
In memoriam. Gravestone of Harry Lenga, Raanana, Israel. Photo by Scott Lenga.