Sylva Sabine Avramovici

Sylva Sabine Avramovici was born in Chemnitz and lives with her family at 107 Zschopauer Straße. She has two siblings, about whom, however, little is known. Her father, Avram Avramovici, is from Jassy in Romania and works as a merchant. Her mother, Alta Basia, came from Warsaw and looks after the household.

In 1939 – a week after her 11th birthday – Sylva escaped to England on a Kindertransport. She arrived in London with nothing but a single suitcase. Because of the war, her life continued to be marked by frequent moves:

from London she went to Cockley Cley, a large estate in Norfolk, and was later taken in by a family with whom she would remain in contact thereafter. The change is important for Sylva as living conditions at Cockley Cley are rural. At one point, she sleeps on a mattress made of twigs, and letters from her parents are often unable to reach England.

Sylva is left with only a few possessions that link her to her family: photographs, letters, a shoe tree and a red leather case containing a Montblanc pen and pencil set, a gift for her 11th birthday. Her parents were deported to the Bełżyce ghetto on 10 May 1942 and murdered after attempting to escape.

Sylva was able to emigrate to the USA in 1947 and married Eric Oppenheimer in 1949. Despite her attempts to leave Germany behind, German culture shaped her everyday life. She remained silent about her childhood. Sylva died in New York in 1993.

It was only after her death that her husband found the letters Sylva’s parents had written to her in England. Sylva’s oldest daughter, Deborah Oppenheimer, recorded the story and made the documentary "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport". In 2001, it was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.