Identity Sleuth

 

Lea Balint has an extraordinary occupation. She searches for Jewish identities that were lost during WWII. She helps people, who only have glimpses of some memories (a surname, a name, a silver spoon with a monogram, a basement in a monastery where somebody was hiding) look for facts from their live. Using extensive archive, she managed to find 130 identities. Sometimes with an identity comes a family. There are people, who thanks to Balint’s work have found their sisters, cousins, or even mothers.

Lea Balint is also like a grandmother to me. The article is an intimate story of person who survived the Holocaust, almost lost her identity, and who became a guardian of not only Jewish identities – but also of my own.

It was published in Pismo. Magazyn opinii.