Lidowsky/Kacel family gathering, Riga, Latvia, 1937

Lidowsky/Kacel family gathering, Riga, Latvia, 1937. Pictured, top row of adults from left to right: Uncle Ljova Odes (perished in the Holocaust); Cousin Boris Lidowsky (perished in the Holocaust); Aunt Berta Lidowsky (perished in the Holocaust); Boris Kacel’s mother, Fansa Kacel (perished in the Holocaust); Cousin Ralph Odes (moved to the U.S. in 1939); Aunt Debora Odes (top, perished in the Holocaust); Grandpa Shleime Lidowsky (center, perished in the Holocaust); visiting Aunt Betty (Rebeka) Delson, M.D. (moved to the U.S. in 1922); cousin Ljuba Lidowsky (perished in the Holocaust); Uncle Aaron Lidowsky (perished in the Holocaust); front row, Boris Kacel’s younger sister, Ljuba Kacel (perished in the Holocaust); cousin Gita Lidowsky (perished in the Holocaust); and Boris Kacel’s older sister Dora Kacel (perished in the Holocaust). 

Location: Riga, Latvia
Date: 1937
Attribution: IHMEC: courtesy of Boris Kacel
Accession Number: 2006.75.3
Donor Bio:

Boris Kacel (Katzel) grew up in Riga, Latvia. Throughout the duration of the Holocaust, Boris was held captive in five concentration camps: Kaiserwald, Vaivare, Sonda, Stutthof, and Buchenwald. He escaped Buchenwald and survived with provisions he had hidden away in a backpack. He came to the U.S. on a ship named the Ernie Pyle and was received by his aunt in Chicago on April 1, 1947.

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