Eighty-one years ago today, the Auschwitz camp complex was liberated by the Red Army. As in every year, the 2026 anniversary is also used to remember an individual's fate. This year, the article is dedicated to Lore Levy from Altenburg.
Lore Levy was born in Altenburg in 1920, along with her twin sister Lotte (1920-1996). Her parents were Albert Levy (1886-1943, murdered) and Franziska "Fränze" née Bucky (1895-1943, murdered). She had three other siblings: Hans "Henner" (1915-2005), Ruth (1918-2009), and Renate (1923-1943, murdered). Lore Levy was born into one of Altenburg's most respected Jewish families. Her father was the managing director and co-owner of the region's largest department store: M. & S. Cohn. At its peak, the company employed over 180 people in 40 departments. Albert Levy was often affectionately referred to as the "second mayor" because of his generosity.
Lore Levy grew up in a sheltered environment at Bismarckstrasse 2 (now Rudolf-Breitscheid-Strasse), where, in addition to the Levy family, her grandparents Sally Bucky
(1866-1940, died in exile) and Marianne née Cohn (1867-1943, murdered), her great-aunt Philippine "Pinchen" Cohn (1858-1942, murdered), and her uncle Gerhard Julius Bucky (1908-2002) also lived. The house was lovingly furnished, and there were regular house concerts (Lore played violin and piano), readings, and billiards games. Although the family was wealthy, the parents raised their children with a down-to-earth approach, and the concept of "Herzensbildung" was central to their character formation. Trips, such as to the Baltic Sea resort of Kolberg (Kolobrzeg) or to Bad Gastein, provided necessary rest and variety during school holidays. From 1927 to 1931, Lore Levy and her twin sister attended the Neustadt School in Altenburg, followed by the 
Karolinum Higher School for Girls. There, in the 1930s, the Levys were increasingly confronted with antisemitism. They were segregated in the classroom, no one was allowed to speak to them, and even physical attacks were commonplace, not to mention hostility. Around 1936 – an exact date could not be determined – the sisters left the Karolinum. In 1937, Lore Levy began training as a nurse at the Eitington Hospital in Leipzig. Fritz Leiser (1912-2011), department head at the M. & S. Cohn department store, was already treated as a son-in-law and lived for a time at Bismarckstrasse 2. He – like Albert Levy and Sally Bucky – was dragged from his beds in the early morning hours of November 10, 1938, during Kristallnacht, and taken under mistreatment to the police prison. Albert Levy and Fritz Leiser were sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp two days later. Lore and Lotte Levy were able to pick them up on November 18, 1938. As their sister Lotte later described, they hardly recognized their father, who was always well-dressed and well-fed, despite his brief stay in the camp; moreover, he suffered from recurring nightmares. Eight days later, Lore Levy, along with her father and sisters Lotte and Renate, emigrated to the Netherlands, where Franziska Levy had already been living since 1937, fearing the Gestapo. Fritz Leiser followed with Lore's grandparents in December 1938.
In Nieuwer Amstel (Amstelveen), the family initially tried to settle down. In 1939, they traveled to join Hans and Ruth, who had already emigrated to South Africa in 1936
respectively around the turn of the year 1938/39. Lotte Levy asked her father if she could stay in South Africa to learn the language and also begged her twin sister to remain there. However, she wanted to return to her fiancé and went back to the Netherlands. Fritz Leiser was to use some money from his father-in-law to find a safe haven for Lore and himself, and he emigrated to Chile in 1940. In 1942, the Levys moved to Amsterdam, and Lore began working as a caregiver at the Rusthuis Blog that same year. Like her parents, her sister Renate, and her grandmother Marianne, Lore Levy was interned in the Westerbork transit camp. She was registered here on June 21, 1943. On September 7, 1943, Lore Levy, along with her parents and sister, was deported from here to Auschwitz. Three days later, the transport reached the place of horror. September 10, 1943, is likely the date of Lore Levy's death, even though it was officially recorded as November 30, 1943. Since 2015, "stumbling blocks" in front of the family's house also commemorate Lore Levy.