Lucy Baras - Oral History Interview, 1980
Lucy Baras was a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust who settled in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, after World War II.
Lucy Rothstein Baras was born in Skalat, Poland (Ukraine), on August 15, 1913. She was the oldest child in the family of an Orthodox Jewish leather merchant. After graduating from high school, she attended law school in Lwow. A 1933 law prohibiting Jews from practicing law forced her to abandon her schooling. Instead, Lucy learned the tailoring trade and returned to Skalat to open her own shop.
The Jews of Skalat lived in relative safety until July 4, 1941, when Nazi forces overran the city. They killed about 400 men, including her father. The Rothstein family continued to survive by working for the Germans in the family leather shop making shoes for concentration camp workers. A short time later a Jewish ghetto was established in the family's neighborhood in Skalat. Its borders continued to shrink following numerous "actions" in which thousands were murdered.
In early 1943 the family was forced to leave their home and work at the labor camp established in Skalat. Lucy was appointed the personal tailor to the Nazi overseer of the county. Lucy's husband-to-be, Edward Baras, was the overseer's farm administrator. In the summer of 1943, Lucy, her mother, and her brother escaped to the forest, where they hid for three weeks. During that time, her mother failed to return while searching for food. She was never seen again. Lucy and her brother joined a group of Jews hiding deeper in the woods. They remained there until their liberation by the Russian army at the end of 1943. After liberation, they traveled through Zbaraz, eventually to return to Skalat in early 1944 where she immediately reunited with Edward. The two were wed and a son was born in 1945.
Fearing similar persecution under the communist regime, Lucy and her family fled the Ukraine soon after their son was born. They were captured in Czechoslovakia, but escaped to a displaced persons camp at Bamberg, Germany, where they were interred until 1950. After leaving Germany, the Baras' spent nine months in New York before arriving in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They joined Edward Baras' brother and sister, who were relocated to Sheboygan directly from Germany. Edward worked as a machinist at the Kohler Company until his retirement in 1974. Lucy worked as a part-time tailor for many years. She died in February 2002.
Lucy Baras, Oral History Interview
Listen to Lucy Baras tell her story to the Wisconsin Historical Society interviewer.
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Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust
Hear the stories of 22 Holocaust Survivors and two American witnesses interviewed between 1974 and 1981.