Lili Susser

A woman of valor, at the age of 12 Lili (Lilka), along with her mother and father, were taken by the Nazis to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto where she continued her education. Her beloved brother, Hersz (Herman), had been killed during the German invasion in the Battle of the Bzura River at the age of 21. She was forced to take her last friend, Psotka, a small black dog to the SS office to be euthanized. When the ghetto was liquidated, Lili and her mother, Miriam, were taken to the Radegast train station across from the street from Polish homes and loaded onto a box car amid barking dogs for a 3-day trip to Auschwitz. After arriving at Auschwitz, she watched her mother walked to gas chamber number 5 where her ashes remain. Lili survived by placing one foot in front of the other. After numerous trips overseas and many years, in 2007 she finally was accompanied to the demolished gas chamber by her children where she was able, for the first time, to place a symbolic rock on the remaining walls.

After much research and several visits to Poland she discovered her brother’s individual grave in a military cemetery where she had always thought he had been buried in a mass grave. She was finally able to place flowers and a plaque on the site.

The Talmud tells us that if you save one life, you save a whole world. Following her liberation from Bergen-Belsen by English tanks, she married her husband Julius (Julek) and her whole new world began to emerge. In her home in Pueblo she entertained many friends and neighbors with card games, dinners and picnics. She sewed, cooked, baked, knitted, and generally made things. She owned a knit shop for several years and taught many how to knit the fast way. In 1995 she wrote her memoir, Lili’s Story – My Memory of the Holocaust. In 2009 her book was published by the city of Lodz, translated into Polish by a friend, as their official book for the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Her cover photo became the logo for the bicycle riders of the event.