Aniela Lerner (verheiratete Lichtenstein)
- Born on: 9.6.1916
- Birthplace: St. Petersburg (Са́нкт-Петербу́рг),
- Category: Diploma program
- Right of domicile: Zawiercie (Zawiercie),
The English version is based on a translation by artificial intelligence. The authentic version is the German version.
Family background and school years
Aniela Lerner was the daughter of Laiser (also Lajser Ludwik) Lerner, a trained accountant (born 17 May 1880 in Częstochowa, the son of Joachim and Chana Anna Lerner), who worked as a civil servant in the Polish town of Zawiercie, and his wife Regina Lerner (born 7 May 1890 in Częstochowa, the daughter of Maksymilian and Aleksandra Lewi). Aniela had a brother, Edward (born 22 April 1912 in Częstochowa).
After her family returned to Poland in 1920 from Russia – which had become a communist state just over a year after Aniela’s birth as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution – Aniela attended the primary school attached to the Helena Malczewska Humanist Grammar School in Zawiercie from 1924. Two years later, she transferred to this grammar school. In 1936, she passed her high school diploma.
Studies in Vienna and St Gallen and the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria
As early as the winter term of 1936/37, Aniela Lerner had applied for a place at the Vienna University for World Trade. Although, according to her own account, she had received an offer from the university, the Polish authorities delayed her departure for Austria. That is why Aniela first attended a private English language school in Warsaw for seven months, where she also learnt French. By the winter term of 1937/38, she was finally able to enrol on the diploma programme at the University for World Trade after receiving her student pass. As she herself reported, it was “a bit difficult at the beginning, but after two months I had mastered the [German] language to such an extent that I was able to study quite well.” (undated curriculum vitae [presumably spring or summer 1938], University Archives of St. Gallen) However, the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria to the ‘Third Reich’ (March 1938) made it impossible for the Jewish-Polish student to continue her studies in Vienna. In mid-June 1938, she was still able to complete parts of the first (general) examination, but received no certificate for it. After just two semesters, Aniela Lerner was deregistered on 27 June 1938 as part of the Nazi regime’s racially motivated ‘purge’ of Austrian universities and was issued with a leaving certificate.
On 1 July 1938, Aniela gave notice to leave her flat at Heiligenstädterstraße 5/5 (19th district of Vienna), where she had been sharing a flat with Adela Romanowska, and returned to her flat at 15 Juliusza Słowackiego in Zawiercie.
Whilst still in Vienna, these two Jewish Polish women applied for a place at the St. Gallen Business School, which – like the predecessor of the University for World Trade, the Imperial and Royal Export Academy – had been founded in 1898. In fact, Aniela Lerner was able to enrol in the economics department of the St Gallen Business School in November 1938 for a total of two semesters. Her residence permit for Switzerland ran from 19 August 1938 to 31 July 1939. All the courses she had successfully completed in Vienna were recognized by the St. Gallen Business School. However, with the outbreak of the Second World War – which began in September 1939 with the German Wehrmacht’s invasion of Aniela’s homeland, Poland – her hopes of continuing her studies in Switzerland were dashed. Her attempt to resume her studies in St Gallen in 1940 was rejected several times by the Swiss authorities. Although the Business School strongly supported her application and, together with several Swiss private individuals, agreed to cover the costs of a second period of study in St Gallen, the immigration authorities refused to grant permission. The fact that Aniela, as a Jew in occupied Poland, was in mortal danger was not taken into account in this decision.
Forced labour in the Second World War
It is not possible to reconstruct exactly how Aniela Lerner survived the Second World War and the Holocaust. It is documented that, from September 1943, she was forced to perform forced labour in the Alsfeld district of Hesse. It is impossible to ascertain retrospectively whether she was employed by one of the local businesses, in a private household or in agriculture. In any case, following the liberation from Nazi rule, she was supported by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which was responsible for providing for displaced persons.
Emigration to the USA
In August 1949, Aniela Lerner emigrated to the United States of America. There she met Robert B. Lichtenstein (born 8 December 1913, died 17 May 1989), who worked as a professor at Canisius College (since 2023: Canisius University) in Buffalo (New York State), whom she married. Following their marriage, she was granted American citizenship in March 1952. The fact that this took place at the District Court in Boston (Massachusetts) is due to the fact that Aniela and Robert were living at that time in Brookline (55 Thatcher Street), part of the Boston metropolitan area. Later, the couple lived at 137 Jasper Drive in Buffalo.
In the USA, Aniela Lichtenstein completed various university courses and ultimately decided to pursue a career in librarianship. Between 1951 and 1953, she undertook a Master’s degree in Russian language and literature at Middlebury College, a private university in Middlebury (Vermont). In 1955–56, she went on to complete a Master of Library Science at Simmons College in Boston (now Simmons University). Furthermore, between 1952 and 1955 she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Government at Harvard University, and in 1956–57 as a library assistant at Lesley College (since 2001: Lesley University) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1957, she moved to the National Library of Medicine in Washington, where she worked in cataloging until 1962. Afterwards, she took up a post as a librarian at the State University College of Education in Buffalo (now Buffalo State University), which was already part of the State University of New York at that time.
Aniela Lichtenstein-Lerner died on 1 March 2004 in Buffalo. She and her husband Robert were buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, very close to Canisius College. Her father, however, along with his parents and some of his siblings, were buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Częstochowa, where numerous Polish Jews were buried during the German occupation of Poland – in some cases following executions at the cemetery or after deadly massacres carried out by the Nazis in the city as part of political or racist persecution, particularly in 1943. In how far Laiser Lerner and his relatives are to be counted amongst the victims of Nazi persecution must remain open here.
Under her maiden name, Lerner, Aniela is commemorated on the memorial dedicated to members of the University for World Trade who were persecuted by the Nazi regime. The memorial was unveiled on 8 May 2014 on the campus of the Vienna University of Economics and Business, the successor to the University for World Trade.
Note: The archives and databases consulted provide different dates for Aniela Lerner. Her date of birth is given as 9 June 1916, 9 April 1916 and 9 June 1918, whilst in a few instances other dates, such as 1 June 1918, are also cited. These all refer to one and the same person.
Author: Johannes Koll
Source material
Einträge von Rosyln Janice Patchi zu Aniela Lerner [Stand: 21. August 2019, abgerufen 13. August 2026] und von Mikael Kanski zu Lajzer Ludwik, Regina und Edward Lerner [Stand jeweils 25. Oktober 2018, abgerufen 13. Oktober 2026], http://www.geni.com/people/Aniela-Lerner/6000000103880239028, http://www.geni.com/people/Lajzer-Ludwik-Lerner/6000000083421484239, http://www.geni.com/people/Regina-Lerner/6000000083421186412 und http://www.geni.com/people/Edward-Lerner/6000000083421385238.
Ośrodek KARTA: Polska 1926. Portret Zbiorowy II RP, Szkoły średnie, Bd. 7, S. 172, http://nieskonczenieniepodlegla-ludzie.pl/podpisy/32205 [28. Oktober 2021] zum Schulbesuch von Aniela Lerner in Zawiercie.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte und Diplomprüfungsliste.
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 – B-MEW – 119415/2013.
Universitätsarchiv St. Gallen, Dokumente zu Aniela Lerner (mit Dank an Linda Zaugg, Luzern) unter Einschluss des Zitats aus dem undatierten Lebenslauf von Aniela Lerner (vermutlich vom Frühjahr oder Sommer 1938) zum Studium an der Hochschule für Welthandel.
Staatsarchiv St. Gallen, A 143-01.1_05275 Lerner Aniela (mit Dank an Linda Zaugg, Luzern).
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 – B-MEW – 119415/2013.
Arolson Archives: Registrierungen von Ausländern und deutschen Verfolgten durch öffentliche Einrichtungen, Versicherungen und Firmen (1939-1947), Durchführung der Alliiertenbefehle zur Erfassung von Ausländern und deutschen Verfolgten sowie verwandte Dokumente, amerikanische Besatzungszone in Deutschland, Ursprüngliche Erhebung, Liste F 1 vom 18. Juni 1947 zu Personen mit polnischer Nationalität im Landkreis Alsfeld, Sign. DE ITS 2.1.1.1 HE 001 POL 7 ZM, DocID: 70295537, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/document/70295537 [22. Oktober 2026].
E-Mail von Dr. Monika Hölscher (Alsfeld) an PD Dr. Johannes Koll vom 4. November 2026.
Ancestry.com: Die Nothilfe- und Wiederaufbauverwaltung der Vereinten Nationen, http://www.Ancestry.com [24. Oktober 2026], nach: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington), UNRRA Selected Records Ag-018-039: Germany Mission, Nr. Rg-67.049m.
Ancestry.com: USA, Ausländerregistrierung in der Zeit des 2. Weltkriegs, 1940-1955, http://www.Ancestry.com [24. Oktober 2026], nach: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Maryland, USA; Flexoline Index Data File, 1940-1955 zur Emigration von Aniela Lerner.
Ancestry.com: USA, Staatlicher Registrierungsindex, 1950-1993, Bd. 1, http://www.Ancestry.com [24. Oktober 2026] zu Robert B. Lichtenstein.
Ancestry.com: U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995, District of Massachusetts, http://www.Ancestry.com [24. Oktober 2026], nach: National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, D.C.), Index to Naturalization Petitions and Records of the U.S. District Court, 1906-1966, and the U.S. Circuit Court, 1906-1911, for the District of Massachusetts, Seriennummer des Mikrofilms: M1545, Mikrofilmrolle 72 zur Verleihung der US-amerikanischen Staatsbürgerschaft an Aniela Lichtenstein.
Who’s who in Library Service. A Biographical Directory of Professional Librarians of the United States and Canada, o.O. 1966, S. 406.
Lesley College: The Lantern, Bd. 18, Nr. 3 vom 26.10.1956, S. 3.
Ancestry.com: U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, http://www.Ancestry.com [29. Oktober 2021] zum Tod von Aniela Lichtenstein.
Find a Grave, https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/252924073/aniela-lichtenstein [24. Oktober 2026] zum Grab von Aniela und Robert Lichtenstein.
Find a Grave, https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/198347637/ludwik_lajzer-lerner [27. Oktober 2026] zum Grab von Anielas Verwandten väterlicherseits in Tschenstochau.