Art & music exhibit in Jersey City tells story of Holocaust survivors, victims

Lusia Milch, 92, is one of the few people left who can still recall the full story of her survival during World War II.

Matt Trapani and Amanda Lee

Aug 10, 2023, 12:49 AM

Updated 488 days ago

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A Holocaust survivor’s story is now one of many being showcased in Jersey City.
Lusia Milch, 92, is one of the few people left who can still recall the full story of her survival during World War II.
“The Germans came early in the morning, 4 a.m., surrounded that area and all of a sudden at a certain hour, they would say ‘Now,’ and the attack would begin,” Milch says. “My sister was only 4 or 4 1/2 when she was killed. She begged me to run away to leave her.”
Milch was the only member of her immediate family to escape. She fled to the United States and had to leave all her memories of her family behind to stay with her cousins.
“They started to give me photographs that my mother was probably sending them before the war,” Milch says.
A painted portrait of Milch’s family now hangs as part of an art and music exhibit called “The LEDI Experience.” Artist Lauren Bergman took more than 20 black and white photos of young women who were killed during the Holocaust and painted them in color, showing them as young girls with hopes and dreams for their future which was taken from them.
“My goal is that with these paintings, with the music, we share this experience of lives that were destroyed by hate and that we can move forward as a society and stand up to it unified,” says Bergman.
Milch’s son provided the space for the exhibit at the Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. It lasts until Aug. 11 and will then be taken around the country for all to see.
“Our goal with LEDI is to establish an individual connection with, in this case, these young girls who died and to understand that real individuals lost their lives, lives that were never realized, the potential that could have been achieved, the beauty and love that would have been realized,” Dr. David Milch says.
More information about the exhibit can be found on Mana Contemporary’s website.