Lifschitz was her married name, she was born in London as Milly Lichtenholz a child of Salomon Josel Lichtenholz and Sara Hegett. Her father, Salomon was born in Zaleszczijcki in Poland on 19 March 1869, son of Mendel and Sosje Lichtenholz. His wife, Sara was born on the 15 March 1888 in Borislow, also in Galicia. They had three children, namely Hedel, born in 1913 (London), Milly, born in 1916 (London) and Cornelia Maria, born in 1920 (Rotterdam). There was also a son Mendel, born on the 4 May 1902 in Niepolokowce (Poland). He is presumed to be the son of Salomon from a previous marriage.
The Lichtenholz family consisting of Salomon, Sara, Hedel and Milly arrived in Rotterdam on 24 October 1918 from London. Cornelia Maria was born two years later in 1920. Mendel, arrived in Den Haag, Holland in November 1930. In October 1931 he moved to Rotterdam, where he lived with Salomon, his wife Sara and their three daughters at Witte de Withstraat 57b Rotterdam.
Salomon Josel Lichtenholz died on the 13 February 1932. His wife Sara Hegett, her daughter Cornelia Maria and step son, Mendel, were sent to Camp Westerbork where they were registered on the 10 April 1943 and stayed in barack 57. On the 20 April they were deported to Sobibor where they were killed on the 23 April 1943. About Hedel, nothing further is known, except that she left Rotterdam for Arnhem in 1940.
Milly Lichtenholz (her name was also spelt as Lichtenhaltz) married in Rotterdam, a Russian by the name of Kiwa Lifschitz, born on 6 February 1908 in Schatzk in Russia. Kiwa Lifschitz arrived in Rotterdam from Hamburg in 1934. He was registered as director of the N.V. Vischmeel (Vischmeel Ltd) and married Milly Lichtenholz on the 3 May 1939. He had been living with Milly and her parents at Witte de Withstraat 57b, since February 1938.
The letter from the British Ambassy of 1945 makes it clear that the couple, Kiwa and Milly Lifschitz-Lichtenholz were well aquainted with the Chasler family (parents Manuel, Bellina and their children, Carl, Jane and Henry) in Rotterdam and that their deportation, which eventually appeared to be to Armenia, might have been their fate too. The letter also indicates that Milly Lifschitz, nee Lichtenholz, survived war in the Siberian camps, made her testimony of her fate from Stockholm and that at some point she was repatriated to London.
Further research has revealed that, in October 1953, upon the request of Milly Lifschitz (now residing in Johannesburg, South Africa), a bailiff from Rotterdam served a writ, in which her husband Kiwa Lifschitz, formerly residing in Rotterdam, was summoned to appear before the District Court of Rotterdam on the 25 January 1954, in order to hear that the Court has a presumption of his death since August 1941.
As he did not appear before the Court in January 1954, on request by Mrs Lifschitz of Johannesburg the bailiff in Rotterdam served a further writ upon Kiwa Lifschitz on the 25 June 1954, who last resided in Rotterdam, now without a known place of residence. On the 14 June 1954, the District Court of Rotterdam pronounced a verdict of the presumption of his death since August 1941.
Based upon the above, it seems very likely that Kiwa Lifschitz suffered the same kind of fate as Manuel Chasler, from whom one never has heard from again since he was arrested by the NKVD in Jerivan in July 1941.
In the meantime it appears that Milly Lifschitz married again, a Mr. Buchanan in South Africa. Further research has revealed that Milly arrived in New York on the 19 April 1954 on a PANAM flight PA151 from Johannesburg. However, nothing is further known about her and her husband.
Sources: City Archive of Rotterdam; Municipal Archive of Den Haag; Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) in Den Haag; Civil Registry of Pancras in London re the registration of birth of Milly Lichtenholz; Register of immigration of New York regarding the arrival of Milly Lichtenholz; website www.wiewaswie.nl; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Sara Lichtenholz-Hegett, Cornelia Lichtenholz and Mendel Lichtenholz; Mr. Jos Maissan of Rotterdam and Mr. Melville Goldbaum from London and the Englisch text is corrected and amended by Mr.Leslie Chasler of London.