Background
Rifkele Riva Minska was born in Łódź, Poland to Avromele and Nacha Minska. Riva was born on May 3, 1926.
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Ruth Minsky Senderowicz
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She has written three memoirs about her experience: The Cage, To Life and Holocaust Lady. Riva"s father, Avromele Minska died shortly after Moshiele"s death. Before the invasion of Poland, Riva"s older siblings fled to Russia to escape forced labor.
She adopted them to keep the family together, which lasted until Laibele died and Riva, Motele, and Moshiele were rounded up with the other remaining Jews in the ghetto and sent to Auschwitz.
After a week, Riva was transported to a labor camp in Mittelsteine. There she contracted blood poisoning from cutting her hand, and was hospitalized because she inspired the people around her to work harder, then deported to the labor camp at Grafenort for the remainder of the war.
The camp was liberated by Russian forces. Riva finally got her wish to be free.
She moved to the United States of America and started a family.
After liberation, Ruth returned to Łódź with friends from the camp. They found that their former homes were occupied by people who had acquired the homes after the Jewish removal. Ruth and her friends decided to flee upon learning that Jewish survivors of the camps were targets for murder.
They met by a small water pump while getting water for her small apartment, which she shared with new friends.
The newlywed couple arranged to be taken to a displaced persons camp in Germany, where the couple gave birth to sons Laibele and Avromele. Afterward the family emigrated to the United States, where two more children, Chaim and Nachele (Nancy), were born.
The family settled in Long Island.
