Anne Levy was born in Lodz, Poland in July 1935. Before the war started, she was a very young girl [Annotator's Note: Levy was four years old when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939]. Levy remembers her prewar life in a favorable way. She would walk the avenue by her large apartment building on Sundays with her parents and sister. She would be given ice cream and balloons. That time represented the last memories of a normal childhood. The world started to change when the Germans confiscated prayer books, prayer shawls and everything important to the religion of the large synagogue across the street. The troops threw everything into a large heap and burned it all. She could tell her parents were upset. People were all looking out their windows. It was Levy's first inkling of trouble. Everyone was upset and worried, but Levy did not understand what was going on. She was just frightened by what was happening. She saw the Germans soldiers doing the burning at the synagogue. She would see only a few on the street on occasion afterward.

Anne Levy was in Lodz, Poland in 1939 when the Germans entered the city. Inhabitants thought the men would be arrested but not the women and children. Levy's father decided to escape and make his way toward Russia. The family was separated. Levy, her mother and sister remained in their apartment after her father left. Afterward, Levy's mother was ordered to prepare the apartment as if company was coming, clean the linens on the bed, and then quickly exit their home. They were being relocated to the Lodz Ghetto. The departure of her father was confusing for Levy. She thought he would be back soon. Instead, it was a long absence. The Lodz Ghetto had just opened. The Jews had to have a yellow star sewn on the front and back of their clothing, but they were still free to walk around. Moving into the ghetto gave the feeling of being closed in. They always had small rooms to live in. Multiple families shared a common apartment. Life had turned upside-down. Life really changed for Levy when her father departed. She had been close to him and missed him. Additionally, her mother could not purchase what she needed to take care of her two children. That was when the significant changes all started. Fear was the dominant feeling in the people around Levy. Meanwhile, her father had made his way to Russia. He obtained a job and sent a young man to smuggle Levy, her mother, and sister out of the Lodz Ghetto. They planned to join her father. The young man was a farmer with a wagon. He found the females using a picture of Levy's mother. Not being Jewish, the farmer was capable of entering and exiting the ghetto. When he announced himself to Levy's mother, the females were gathered and put into the wagon and covered up. They departed the ghetto to reunite with Levy's father.

Anne Levy and her sister were on a journey for two days before her sibling became ill and began running a fever. [Annotator's Note: The two young girls and their mother were fleeing the Jewish Ghetto in Lodz, Poland in an attempt to reach Levy's father in Russia.] Levy's mother had no medicine for her sick young girl. Levy's mother became frightened. She did not know what to do. She asked her escorts to not take them to meet her husband but instead to bring them to Warsaw where she could seek help for her sick daughter. Levy's aunt was a physician at the hospital there. That decision turned out to be a bad one. The three females wound up in a worse place. They made their way to Warsaw and just walked into the ghetto. All the Jews were welcome in the ghetto. Levy was young and the experiential details were not memorable to her. Families were crammed together in single rooms. Individual family spaces were cordoned off with a blanket or sheet. That was when Levy realized how bad the situation had become. Levy, her mother and sister would eventually end up in a large building with a room of their own. Life was awful in Warsaw. Levy's worst memories were of that ghetto. She saw the most horrible things there even though her parents told her not to look outside. There were dead bodies just outside on the street. People would collapse as they walked along and then perish. The bodies would eventually be stripped of footwear and clothing until the corpse was nude. Subsequently, individuals with a pushcart would toss the body into a stack of dead on their cart. All this made a horrific impression on Levy. The visions stuck in her head. People were beaten and shot but Levy's mother tried to prevent her from viewing those incidents. The group lived without Levy's father for about two years. Her mother would stand in line to obtain a small loaf of bread to share. On one occasion, someone stole the bread right after it was received. Her mother came home devastated because she had nothing to feed her daughters. They were hungry all the time. Levy's mother had saved a jar of jam and hidden it up high. Levy knew where it was and ate the whole thing. She was punished as a result. She has never liked jelly or jam since then. The incident was funny but sad at the same time. Levy and her sister were suffering from malnutrition. They mainly were listless and stayed in bed. There was a knock on the door one day. It was her father. Levy survived as a result of his return to his family. Had he not returned, Levy, her mother and sister would have suffered the same consequences as the rest of the ghetto. They would have been placed on a train and transported to a concentration camp. Her father was crazy to walk into the ghetto, but he came with bread and butter. He could tell the emaciated state his family was in so he gave them the food bit by bit. The starved females would not have been able to eat as much as they wanted. Their stomachs were not adjusted to that quantity of food. Levy's father brought his family back to life. Other children were in the ghetto, but Levy's mother kept her daughters secluded in their room. Her father and mother were able bodied individuals so they had to perform work. That was the case for all people in the Jewish quarter. Children, elderly and sick would be taken away by the Germans. Both of Levy's parents went to work in a Schuhgeschäft [Annotator's Note: shoe shop] where they made wooden soles for prisoners. Her father was knowledgeable about working wood and associated machinery so he was assigned there as was his wife. At first, they would bring their daughters with them and hide them in a hollow spot under stacks of wooden soles. They could come out at lunch and eat with their parents during the mid-day meal. Because the Germans were known to spot check the factory, the two parents became concerned. They had to discover a better way to hide their daughters. If the Germans found them, the girls could have been separated from their parents. Going to the factory was too hard for the girls. Instead, her father took a chest in their apartment and made a hiding space within it for them. They would stay there all day. The coffer would be pushed against the wall. A potty, water and bread would be left for the girls. That was the scariest time. Levy was about six and half years of age at that point. She realized there was danger. She had to follow her parent's instructions. They could not talk or create a disturbance. The Germans would come up and look in the room. The girls could hear the searchers coming because of their hobnailed boots. They made a distinct noise. Maintaining quiet was mandatory. Levy and her family survived largely because of her parent's ingenuity and luck. They managed to survive the Warsaw Ghetto. Her parents could see others being deported or executed, but the children were shielded from that. Because they wanted to stay one step in front of the Germans, Levy's parents decided to get out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Anne Levy and her family needed three things to get out of the Warsaw Ghetto. They had to have papers saying they were Catholic. They required a Polish Catholic family willing to take them in. Finally, a means to smuggle them out of the ghetto was needed. The underground managed to assist them with the requirements. One morning, Levy, her mother, and sister boarded a garbage truck and were covered up for the exit from the ghetto. It was very nerve wracking. They were taken to the Aryan side of the city. They then had to take a trolley to the home of a woman and her daughter. During the course of the trolley ride, Levy and her mother were separated from Levy's younger sister. Her mother was horrified and panicked until the conductor said she could retrieve her at the next stop. Although there was no one to help, the Almighty was looking after them. The three reunited and made their way to the people sheltering them. They were wonderful people and treated Levy and her family as if they were their own. Neighbors were told that Levy and her mother and sister were part of their hosts' family. The hard thing for Levy was that her younger sister did not realize that she was Jewish. Levy knew she was. When they started living with the two women, her mother took Levy's sister outside the home and even to church. She did not appear to be Jewish because of her lighter hair and complexion. Levy was more olive in her complexion and had dark curly hair. Hitler decided that was the Jewish look. She could not be brought out in public for fear of discovery. She had to stay in the home. If company came to their home, Levy had to hide in an armoire. They unsuccessfully tried to dye her hair. At night, she was allowed on a balcony with a kerchief on her head to not be so cooped up. A neighbor asked the family's sponsor if she was hiding Jews. The neighbor went on to tell Levy's hostess that if she did not report the Jews, she would. Levy's father was working in a lumber yard. He found out about the threat and asked his boss if he could bring his family to the worksite. He would build a hut for them and he would serve as the yard's night watchman. The supervisor agreed to that. Levy's father's family had been in the lumber business for a long time. He knew the name Skorietski [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] from the lumber business. He was a Righteous Gentile to allow them to stay there. While living with the kind Polish women, the family's diet improved. Levy's father was working and could provide food for them. Levy did not know much about the United States entering the war. They were protected by their parents as much as possible. They lived in a tarpaper covered hut in the lumber yard. That was when she first realized something was going on. The Allied bombers attacked Warsaw. As she walked the perimeter of the worksite with her father, she could hear the hiss of the descending bombs. The citizens of Warsaw began to leave the city and evacuate to the countryside. Levy and her family left along with the throng of people. Her father became ill. He asked a farmer if he could stay in his barn since he was sick. The man agreed to the request, and the family stayed in the barn. Following his recovery from his sickness, her father went to the farmer and told him that he was very good with machinery and would work for him if he allowed his family to stay there. Her father was a very capable man "with golden hands." He could sew a suit, build a cabinet, or repair machinery plus many other things. That was what saved the family. During the bombings, the family hid in the fields to escape the explosions. Eventually, the bombings slowed and then stopped. The family walked out and met some soldiers. It was the Russians. They had been liberated by the Russians.

Anne Levy initially thought the Russian liberators were going to be better than the German oppressors. She would discover otherwise. They were no better than the Germans. After returning to where they formerly lived [Annotator's Note: Lodz, Poland], Levy's parents sought family and friends from the past. They registered on a list. A few days later, they would check to see if anyone replied or if they saw any familiar names. Her parents registered and wrote down that they had two children. They were interrogated about that and had to bring Levy and her sister in for confirmation that the family had survived intact. There were so few families that had managed to do so. During those years, Levy's sister was her best friend and mostly her only contact her age. They remained close through the years. Her sister was her only friend during those wartime years. Levy made a trip back to Poland with a group of her family. She was amazed with the miracle of her survival. She saw what she was extradited from. While visiting the concentration camps with her family, she realized what might have happened to her there. It was so emotional, words could not explain her feelings. A professor told Levy that her parents saved their children, but the children saved their parents. Her parents did not have the liberty of giving up as long as they were protecting their girls. They had to keep going. That saved them all. Her mother passed away at 63 in 1976. Her father was blessed and lived to 91 [Annotator's Note: he was born in 1900]. Her father was independent but eventually agreed to help his children in their store. He and his generation were wonderful with their dry but great sense of humor. Levy arrived in New Orleans in 1949. In 1945, the war was over. They knew how the Russians were through firsthand experience. An officer knocked on the door of the family apartment and announced that he would be staying with them. The family was courteous to him. Her father had a watch and a pair of nice boots. Both of those valuables disappeared the next morning. Her father has never had a watch since that incident. He knew he had to get his family out of Poland. They walked day and mostly night through forests. Reaching the Czech-German border, they had made it to the American Zone. The American soldiers found out a Jewish family wanted to crossover. They put them on a truck similar to the ones in the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. The Museum trucks reminds Levy of that experience. The soldiers she met were wonderful. They provided the two young girls with Hershey Bars and chewing gum. The youngsters had never had chewing gum. The soldiers had to gesture what to do with the gum. It was Levy's first experience with chocolate bars, chewing gum, and American soldiers. The Americans could not have been kinder to the girls. It was a wonderful way to be treated. It has left a warm feeling in Levy's heart for American servicemen. Her childhood started over again. She turned into a tomboy. The Americans had established a DP [Annotator's Note: displaced persons] camp. They put them in a Bayerischer Hof [Annotator's Note: Bavarian farm] Hotel on the city square. The hotel had been allocated for the gathering Holocaust survivors. There were many arriving. Levy and her sister began attending school for the first time. It was a Catholic school run by nuns. Since there was no local public transportation between small towns, her father and another man decided to create a bus company. He was born in 1900 so he was 45 years old when the war ended. He found a motor for the bus. He constructed the body of the bus out of wood. It became the first bus carrying passengers between nearby little towns. ESKA was the name given to their small company. More buses were built between 1945 and 1949. Her father did well. The family had a dog. He acquired a car. Levy used to accompany him driving to the country to acquire eggs and other things. Life was good. A Polish professor taught the girls to play the piano for recitals. Levy felt she was a tomboy because while in the hotel, she made her way up to the attic. She found heaven there. She discovered toys and books which they never had before. It was her secret hideaway. She loved it. She had her first garden while growing up. The new location became her home, but her parents always wanted to go to the United States. They entered their names on the list and waited for their opportunity. In 1948, the State of Israel was established. Levy anxiously waited while the UN [Annotator's Note: United Nations] voted to acknowledge the new country. When the vote passed to create Israel, Levy decided that she wanted to go there. She had no idea of exactly what was required, but she knew she would no longer be different there. Nevertheless, her parents won out and received their papers to immigrate to the United States.

Anne Levy and her family were required to have good health in order to immigrate to the United States. Her mother and father put braces on their daughter's teeth. Levy thought the braces were awful. Levy had to get glasses, too. No one is perfect, but her parents tried to get Levy as close as possible. In 1949, her father gave up his firm in Europe to move to the United States. The City Council took over the bus company. It is still there as a huge, nice and modern bus company. While visiting Europe, they visited the small town [Annotator's Note: name uncertain] where they had been after the war. A friend from Germany had told Levy that if she was ever in the country to be sure to let her know. Eight months later, Levy decided to do just that. It was the most touching and wonderful experience Levy ever had. A bus was waiting for Levy and her family in the town square. She was greeted by the woman and her husband along with the bus company administrator. They were subsequently introduced to an older, short man who was the last of the original employees from the time when Levy's father owned the bus company. Levy was amazed at meeting the man. The mayor of the city also greeted them. Levy felt herself lucky to have experienced all of that. Levy was excited upon her arrival in New Orleans. She was welcomed by the Jewish community. After greeting them, they were escorted to the Jewish Community Center. Dinner was served on white table clothes. Her parents were helped in the transition to a new and normal life. Levy was a teenager starting the 8th grade. Girls were wearing lipstick, but her mother said "no." Levy put the lipstick away and continued to be a tomboy. She attended Jackson Elementary School. Teachers and students there were wonderful. The teachers helped her greatly. She attended McMain Middle School and then Fortier High School. It was great.

Anne Levy began volunteering at The National WWII Museum after Katrina [Annotator’s Note: Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the eastern Gulf Coast in August 2005]. The Museum had opened in 2000 [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum opened on 6 June 2000 as The National D-Day Museum.] To her, the Museum represents the United States. In volunteering, she feels as if she is paying the country back. It is the perfect place for her. She enjoys talking with the veterans of the war. She tells them that during the war, they [Annotator's Note: the civilians in Poland] hoped the United States would save them. She embraces the soldiers and they return her response. There are so many meaningful stories they tell. The Museum has grown over the years since Katrina. It is hard to believe the progression. It is amazing. The visitors also find it to be so. Everyone in the country should see it. Fewer veterans are capable of seeing the monument in Washington, but they are compelled to visit The Museum. It is a joy for the veterans to see this Museum. Levy has a friend who served in the war. She brought him to see "Beyond Bounds" [Annotator's Note: "Beyond All Boundaries", the 4D experience at The National WWII Museum]. It was touching to see the veteran exit the movie with tears running down his face. The movie, like the Museum's exhibits, is very emotional. Young people should experience this fabulous Museum. The people in charge have done a fabulous job. It is remarkable to watch the new buildings going up around the Museum. Levy has spoken to school groups and knows it is important for them to learn about this aspect of history. It is significant that veterans and survivors tell their stories to the young while time allows them to transfer the information. If the new generation does not learn the story, deniers can refute the truth of what happened. This reminder of the past can provoke them to ask what they would do if a similar situation confronted them. They need to learn that plus, mainly, how to live together. A person being different is acceptable. Levy's message to future generations would be that the United States is the best country with the most freedoms. No matter how bad things seem to be, citizens need to learn to live together and accept one another. That message needs to flow from the top leadership of the country to all citizens. History is changing. Levy had a personal experience with David Duke who was a Nazi who hated blacks. She was concerned that Louisiana would be led by a Nazi and ex-Klansman. He was a leader and elected, but his statewide election attempt was a failure. He lost by a narrow margin, but he was defeated. Levy's final message is to watch out for who is running for office and be vigilant.