Musicians Jacob and Pauline moved
to Germany from Latvia in 1928. Under his stage name, Yasha Lenssen, Jacob worked
at a Berlin opera house. Eventually, the opera house discovered Jacob’s real
name was Levinsons; and Jacob’s contract was terminated. When their daughter
Hessy was born, the Levinsons family was scraping by in a small, cramped Berlin
apartment. Hessy was their pride and joy. Jacob and Pauline scrimped and
saved to have her photograph taken as a memento they could frame and display on
the family piano. Hitler had recently come into power, and he decided to hold a
contest to find an ideal example of the "master race." Photographers were encouraged to
submit baby pictures. Out of 100 entries, Hessy’s photo was chosen. The “perfect”
Aryan child was a Latvian Jew. If the truth had come out, Hessy and her family
would surely have been killed. But their friends and neighbors kept the secret
until the Levinsons’ were able to flee the country.
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