'We can't sweep this under the rug:' Mequon-area family urges woman to tell her story about growing up in war-torn Europe
After decades of secrecy, Ellie Schuster recently told her story for the first time about how her family hid a Jewish woman in their basement in war-torn Europe.
“I’ve never spoken out of fear. I’ve only told my daughter, and she thought it was time to share. People should treat others with love, not hate,” she said.
While visiting family in Wisconsin, her daughter urged her to tell her story Thursday at the Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon during an event called "Heroes of Hope and Humanity."
Born in 1948, Schuster grew up in the Transylvania region of Romania and eventually fled to Germany in the 1980s, where she still resides.
Schuster said her family hid a Jewish woman in their basement during World War II. The woman eventually fled, and they lost contact. Schuster warned the audience that “we need to do everything to stop this from happening again.”
Her daughter Laura Oklejas said she grew up never knowing her mother's story. "I was in shock to hear. I'm 52 and I just found out," said Oklejas.
"We have a purpose. We can't sweep this under the carpet," she added. Laura and her partner, Greg Devorkin, who's based in Mequon, urged the center to host the event after recently learning the details of Schuster's story.
"It was was monumental," said Devorkin.
Two entities of the Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon — The Jewish Discovery Center and Mequon Torah Center — hosted the event. More than 50 people witnessed the presentation. The event attracted attendees from across the country.
Also featured, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Levin flew in from Brooklyn to share his story. Born in Moscow in the early 1950s, he escaped in the 1970s and helped other refugees settle. Eventually, he created a Jewish Russian national monthly publication called Svet, which is Russian for "light."
After getting married, he moved back to Russia for a few years to help other Jews still living behind the Iron Curtain, and then moved back to Brooklyn in 1991 where he established the Chabad in Central Brooklyn.
Contact Alex Groth at agroth@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @grothalexandria.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon hosts woman who hid Jewish woman
