Malka Leibler née Schöngut

Malka Schöngut was born on 14 January 1902 in Oswiecim / Auschwitz in Poland. In the hope of a better life, she moved to Berlin after the First World War. There she met the merchant David Meir Leibler, who had also moved to Germany from Poland. They married in 1922 and had three children. In 1923 their son Max was born, and in 1926 and 1932 their daughters Erna and Rita. Malka managed the household, assisted her husband in bookkeeping and worked as a seamstress to improve the family income. The family was religious. Emigration to Palestine was a frequently discussed topic, but did not seem realistic because of David's weak health. The Leiblers last lived in Gipsstraße in Berlin-Mitte, in a neighbourhood where many Jews lived.
The family's life changed dramatically in October 1938, when Jewish men with Polish citizenship were arrested and deported to Poland. David Meir was first taken to a camp and later transported to the German-Polish border, from where he arrived in Oswiecim / Auschwitz, where Malka's family lived. After her husband's arrest, Malka immediately took the initiative and sent Max to Oswiecim to live with her family. Malka and the two daughters were left alone in Berlin. The mother tried to earn money to ensure survival. Twelve-year-old Erna had to run the household. After nine months, in the summer of 1939, mother and daughters received entry visas for Poland and also moved to Oswiecim.
Son Max was already living in Bialystok in eastern Poland in a training camp that prepared Jewish youths for life in Palestine. After the beginning of the Second World War, he fled through the Soviet Union and Turkey to Palestine.
Daughter Erna also managed to escape to Palestine. One of Malka's sisters had emigrated to Palestine in 1936 and had submitted applications for children of her relatives in Europe as part of an emigration programme for Jewish children. The application for Erna was the only one that was approved. It had been sent to Berlin and from there back to Jerusalem, as the Leiblers no longer lived in Berlin. With a lot of courage and great effort, Malka managed to get Erna to leave anyway.
Malka, David Meir and Rita Leibler could not escape the Nazi terror. They were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in September 1942 and murdered there.