Meet with a Holocaust Survivor

Lin was born in 1938 in Kyiv, Ukraine. For her, the war started when she was 3 years old during Operation Barbarossa. Her father went away to serve in the army, and her and her mother frequently hid in bomb shelters during raids on the city. Her family was able to leave before the Kyiv Jews were taken to Babi Yar, but she had a lot of family there. She was with her mother and hopped on a cattle train. Throughout the war, she suffered from starvation and witnessed horrific violence. She managed to survive due to her mother’s assistance.

After the war, Lin and her mother returned to Kyiv and she started school in 1946. She was a second class citizen in Ukraine, and they lived as political refugees under the Communist government. She married, and she and her husband finally arrived in the United States in 1980. She speaks as part of her local speakers bureau and has been doing so for many years.