Obituary: Leah "Lonia" Mosak, 95

Leah "Lonia" Mosak née Kirshenbaum, a Holocaust survivor born July 2, 1922 in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, Poland, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 20 at the age of 95. She survived the ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Death March, settled in Skokie and leaves behind a family including eight grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mosak was the beloved wife of the late Uscher "Oscar" Mosak, the loving mother of Doris (Ron) Lazarus and Esther Mosak, the proud grandmother of Jennifer (Matthew) Seidner, Brad Lazarus, Ana Laila and Camillo Mosak, the cherished great grandmother of Talia, Perla, Jonah and Elijah, and the devoted daughter of the late Mendel and the late Esther Kirshenbaum whom were murdered in the Holocaust.

She was also the dear sister of the late Hershel "Harry" (the late Rebecca) Kirshenbaum, the late Shmuel Kirshenbaum and her brother, Shaya Kirshenbaum who was murdered in the holocaust. Mosak was lovingly cared for by Nellie Benitez and will be missed by nieces, nephews and many devoted customers — she worked as a seamstress into her 90s.

Mosak discussed her experience in interviews with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in the 199os. She describes her liberation by the Soviet Army in 1945, her marriage in Austria, her experience immigrating to a Polish-Jewish neighborhood of Chicago in 1945 and reuniting with her brother.

You can watch video of her account or listen to audio recordings of her memories online.

A service has been scheduled for noon on Thursday, Dec. 21 at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 195 N. Buffalo Grove Rd. with Rabbi David Begoun officiating. Interment is set for Waldheim Jewish Cemetary in Forest Park. Memorials can be made to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center or L'Chaim Center.

_{Top photo: Lonia Mosak | Courtesy Chicago Jewish Funerals}