Elena Boguslavsky

Jewish Holocaust Survivor

Interview language: Spanish

In 1941, Elena Boguslavsky was placed in the home of a Catholic Polish family, with whom she lived under false identity during the war. Prior to his death, Elena’s father would periodically come to visit the family, but was careful not expose her Jewish identity by treating Elena the same way he did the other children. Her biological parents, Michal and Raja Blacher, went into hiding nearby Vilna, but both perished during the war. Elena once asked the Polish family about her father and was told not to cry, but that he had died. She did not, would not cry then and, as a result, cannot do so to this day.

Bio

Elena Boguslavsky was born on June 4, 1934, in Vilna, Poland, to Michal and Raja Blacher. During the Holocaust, she lived under false identity with a Catholic Polish family, until the end of the war in Vilna and later in Lida, then Poland.  She stayed with her adoptive family until 1947 in Zoppot, Poland. She was then retrieved by her paternal aunt with whom she lived in Lódz, Poland, until her immigration to Israel in 1949. She later made her way to Mexico, where she joined a maternal uncle.

Technical issues with the video? Let us know.