Julie Keefer was born Jula Weinstock on April 19, 1941, in Lwów, Poland (present day: Lviv, Ukraine). Her father, Herman, was a tinsmith. Her mother, Sala (née Eisen), was an opera singer and homemaker. Many members of Julie’s extended family also lived in Lwów, including her maternal grandparents, Aizik and Klara Eisen.
World War II began in September 1939 when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland, splitting the country in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Lwów remained under Soviet occupation from September 1939 until June 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and occupied eastern Poland. Two months after Julie was born, Germany invaded Lwów.
Nazi authorities confiscated Jewish-owned businesses, including Aizik’s wholesale fruit business. Beginning in fall 1941, German authorities forced the Jews of Lwów into a ghetto. The Weinstocks moved into Aizik’s house, which was located inside the ghetto. The family dug a bunker under Aizik’s barn, where they would hide from the Nazis. Despite this precaution, Aizik was arrested during a raid and sent to Jaktorow labor camp, where he worked in a quarry.
In April 1942, Aizik returned to the Lwów ghetto, where he found 1-year-old Julie and her parents still alive. Many other members of their extended family, including his wife Klara, had been rounded up and deported to Belzec killing center. Aizik was soon rearrested in May 1942 and sent to Janowska labor camp. After escaping from Janowska, Aizik received help from a Polish peasant named Stanislaw Borecki, who gave him food and clothing. Eventually, Aizik made his way into a nearby forest, where he dug an underground bunker. Over time, other Jewish escapees joined him and enlarged the bunker. They also acquired guns and supplies.
In 1943, Aizik learned from Stanley Borecki that the Germans were going to destroy the Lwów ghetto that June. He made a plan to return to the ghetto and rescue his family, even though he was unsure if anyone was still alive. Happily, he found 2-year-old Julie, her parents, and her baby sister, Tola. Aizik helped them escape. He brought them first to Mr. Borecki’s home and then to the forest bunker.
As it got colder and conditions in the forest grew more difficult, Aizik realized the babies’ cries placed everyone at risk. In December 1943, Aizik arranged for Julie and Tola to move back to Lwów and live with a gentile family friend, Lucia Nowicka. Lucia had helped the family for years, when they were imprisoned in the ghetto. Lucia was working as a live-in housekeeper for the Swierczynski family, who lived next door to the German governor of Lwów District. Aizik assumed the identity of Lucia’s husband, who had been missing since September 1939. Julie and Tola were introduced as Lucia’s orphaned nieces. Lucia and Mrs. Swierczynski cared for the girls, while Aizik went back and forth between Lwów and the forest.
One day, upon returning to Lwów, Aizik discovered that theGestapo had arrested Lucia. While Lucia was imprisoned, Aizik took Tola to a Catholic children’s home, assuming she would be safe there. With the help of the Swierczynski family, Lucia was released from prison and returned home to care for Julie. In April 1944, while Aizik was visiting the girls in Lwów, the Germans discovered the forest bunker and killed everyone they found inside, including Julie’s parents.
Aizik returned to Lwów, where he remained with Julie and Lucia. He regularly visited Tola in the children’s home. One day, he discovered that the home was empty and Tola was gone. During the battle for Lwów, a bomb had hit the building. The Germans evacuated the children to a nearby town. Despite their efforts, Aizik and Julie were never able to locate Tola.
In summer 1945, Aizik, Lucia, and Julie left Lwów and temporarily settled in western Poland (which had previously been Germany). Aizik and Lucia married. Then the three of them left for Austria. Julie received her first formal education in several displaced persons camps. Hearing that young orphans could get entry visas, Aizik decided to send Julie to America in 1948, planning to join her later.
Julie was placed in a children’s home in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1950, Aizik and Lucia immigrated to the United States, ultimately settling in New York. They tried to adopt Julie, but were not allowed to because of their lack of income. Julie spent six years in the children’s home, until she was adopted by Fred and Thea Klestadt, German Jews who had fled the Nazis in the 1930s. Julie visited her grandparents, Aizik and Lucia, every summer.
Julie became a French teacher and earned degrees in psychology, special education, and administration. Julie and her husband, Larry, lived in the Washington, DC, area and had two children. Today, Julie volunteered at the Museum.