Born: Sarospatak, Hungary The younger of two sisters, Lidia was
born to Jewish parents living in Sarospatak, a small town in
northeastern Hungary. Lidia's parents owned a successful dry
goods business. At the time, ready-made clothes were still rare
in the countryside. Townspeople and local farmers would purchase
fabric at the Lebowitz store and then take it to their tailor or
seamstress to be sewn into clothes. 1933-39: Lidia was 2 when
her Aunt Sadie, who had emigrated to the United States many
years earlier, came to visit with her two children, Arthur and
Lillian. All the cousins had a good time playing together on
their grandparents' farm. On the trip over from America, Lidia's
aunt's ship had docked in Hamburg, Germany, and Aunt Sadie had
seen Nazis marching in the streets. Aunt Sadie was worried about
what could happen to her family in Sarospatak. 1940-44: In 1944
German forces occupied Hungary. A month after the invasion,
Hungarian gendarmes, acting under Nazi orders, evicted Lidia and
her parents from