Lea Ternbach Ziering 

Lea Ternbach Ziering

Lea Ternbach was born on May 18, 1935, to Matilda Pappo and Joseph Ternbach in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. In 1940, two Antisemitic decrees were enacted. One limited Jewish commerce and the other set a Jewish quota for secondary schools and universities. On April 15, 1941, Nazi occupation began with a mass round-up of men who were marched to Lonja Field, where they were forced to dig pits into which they were later shot. As the family recounts, Lea and her mother fled to coastal Split, where they survived passing as Christians. They briefly hid with partisans. By 1944, Matilda and Lea ended up in Naples. They were among the 982 of 36,000 refugees chosen to go to Oswego, NY, to the only US government-sanctioned “safe haven” located in United States. In July 1944, they boarded the USS Henry Gibbons. Their surviving family went to the US, Israel, and France. In Oswego, Matilda met and married another refugee, Ernest Blier, and they had a son Rudy.

Lea went to New York for high school and design school in 1956. She was determined to be independent with a career in fashion. After she presented her design portfolio to Macy’s, she soon saw her own designs copied by Macy’s in the newspaper. Feeling deceived, she changed careers. She wanted to travel the world. She became a first-class hostess for Pan American, and did. She met Herman and they married in 1962. While less vocal about her Holocaust experiences, Lea and Herman were a team who built family, community, and a strong sense of Jewish continuity.


 


 

Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter

Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter

The decision to establish “safe havens” for refugees was rooted in an agreement between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill who recognized their countries’ roles in assisting the masses of stateless and homeless survivors of World War II. While many such sanctuaries were established throughout Europe, Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, NY, was the only such settlement in America. In August 1944, survivor passengers on the USS Henry Gibbons entered the US as “guests” of President Roosevelt. Yet, even though they were safe in Oswego, learning English and preparing to work, they were still behind wire fences. Not legally refugees, their mobility was limited and these fences reminded many of Nazi camps. Finally, in 1946, President Truman declared everyone citizens.

— Refugee baggage lying outside the Fort Ontario refugee center. Photo from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD.

Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter Documents