Anna Leiser-Kleinhaus, born in 1936 in Antwerp, Belgium, describes her life while in hiding during the war, her times in a French orphanage, posing as a Catholic in a French town with her mother and returning to Antwerp with her mother after the war and reuniting with her father after his liberation from a concentration camp.
She studied in Geneva, Switzerland where she met her husband. Immigrated to the US where she received a doctorate in pharmacology and had a productive career while raising three children. Now retired she enjoys the company of her grandchildren.
Annie was a guest of honor in the summer of 2024 at a commemoration in Vendine France hosted by the Archbishop of Toulouse to recognize the surviving members of the orphanage, one of the places where she was hidden during the Holocaust. Leaders from Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, along with members of the Jewish and Catholic communities were also on hand.
Annie was they keynote speaker on May 6th 2024 at the Annual Westchester County Yom HaShoah commemoration at the HHREC Garden of Remembrance. To read the story about this event as covered by Journal News reporter Gary Stern visit: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/new-york/2024/05/06/westchester-ny-holocaust-remembrance-day-commemoration-warns-of-rising-antisemitism-yom-hashoah/73584859007/
To view photos taken by Journal News photojournalist Tania Savayan visit: https://www.lohud.com/picture-gallery/news/2024/05/06/holocaust-remembrance-day-in-white-plains/73590821007/
To see coverage of the event on News12 visit: https://longisland.news12.com/ceremony-held-to-mark-holocaust-remembrance-day-in-white-plains?region=longisland