Reunion and Renewal, 1952–1964
Camilla kept mementos of her new life, including a handmade card from her grandson Harvey and pictures of their time together in America.
She had witnessed horrors, survived disease, escaped death, and endured. Like many Holocaust survivors, she tried to leave her past behind. Once united with her daughter and son-in-law in New York, she enjoyed family activities and the love of her grandchildren. Still active, she continued her work as a seamstress and embroiderer. Though eligible for U.S. citizenship, she remained a displaced person.
Lony’s family only fully learned of Grandma Camilla’s World War II Holocaust experience when they found her purse filled with documents of her past after her death in 1964. By saving the papers that outline her life, she provided a legacy to her family and her new country.
Family photo
A family photograph including Lony Bodansky, Camilla, Ilona Klaber, her sister-in-law, Lony’s sons, Harvey and Robert Bodansky
Special industrial home worker’s certificate, February 1949
Camilla sewed through all stages of her life. In America, this included employment in the embroidery industry earning around 40 cents an hour.
Camilla’s hat, about 1950
Obituary
Camilla’s obituary published in the Washington Star, May 28, 1964
