Photograph of four young women, including Fruma Toporek, nee Derin, pictured on the right.
Survivor, Simon Mensher and family, Chicago, 2004.
Photograph of four young women, including Fruma Toporek, nee Derin, pictured on the right.
Esther Kogan was born on September 10, 1947, in Creußen, Germany in a Displaced Persons camp. Her parents met and married in Kazakhstan. During the war, her father, Efroim Toporek (b. June 15, 1909 – d.1991) fled Lask, Poland with his brothers. Her mother, Fruma, nee Derin, (b. May 1, 1920) was from Kharkov (Kharkiv), Ukraine. During the war, she was evacuated to Kazakhstan. After the war Efroim and Fruma were both placed in Displaced Persons camps in Germany, eventually gaining passage to Montreal, Canada with the help of a cousin. The family later immigrated to Chicago.
