Holocaust survivors’ daughter presents story at Evans City library
EVANS CITY — Edith Loeb and Kurt Leuchter grew up seven hours apart in two different countries. Both of them experienced the horrors of Jewish persecution under the Nazi reign, including the Kristallnacht, before briefly meeting in the same French orphanage. They ultimately survived World War II before ending up in New York City, where their paths crossed once more.
Today, both of them are still alive to tell their story. So is their daughter, Debbie Leuchter Stueber, who told their story at the Evans City Public Library on Thursday night, Nov. 7, during the “A Holocaust Story of Love and Resilience” presentation.
Stueber says she has been presenting her parents’ Holocaust survival story to schools, libraries and other public institutions in Western Pennsylvania for the past four years.
“I find a lot of people are unaware of a lot of the history of the Holocaust,” Stueber said. “I think a lot of people have heard of Auschwitz and the like, but their knowledge doesn't necessarily go too much beyond that.”
This is Stueber’s second visit to Butler County this year to tell the story of her parents to an audience at a public library. The first was at the Butler Area Public Library in May. However, Stueber said that the audience on Thursday night in Evans City was far better.
Stueber’s mother, Loeb, was forced to leave her hometown of Bruchsal, Germany, in October 1940 as part of a series of deportations of Jewish people carried out in southwest Germany. She, her mother and her grandmother were transferred to the Gurs internment camp in southwestern France, and were later moved to another internment camp.
“The conditions were terrible. People died of starvation and disease,” Stueber said. “Edith had to use straw to make mattresses, and there were too few blankets for the masses of people.”
Eventually, Loeb’s mother made the difficult decision to save her daughter’s life by signing her over to the OSE, or Children’s Aid Society, an underground organization that smuggled Jewish children to freedom.
Leuchter ended up at the Masgelier orphanage. While there, she met Leuchter for the first time.
“He really liked her,” Stueber said. “She thought he was arrogant and didn’t pay much attention to him.”
Leuchter hailed from Vienna, Austria, and experienced the Anschluss firsthand, and — similar to Loeb — experienced the Kristallnacht firsthand. His family fled to Antwerp, Belgium, only for Germany to occupy that country as well. Eventually Leuchter also would be signed over to the OSE by his parents and end up at the orphanage.
After Loeb and Leuchter split, Leuchter bounced from residence to residence and briefly became a part of the French Maquis resistance, while Loeb became a French Girl Scout.
After the war ended, both emigrated to New York, and had a chance encounter outside the Museum of Modern Art in January 1947.
“Edith must have seen something different in Leuchter this time because they fell in love,” Stueber said. “On August 13th, 1950, they were married.”
Leuchter’s story was far from over, as he was drafted into the U.S. Army in January 1952 and spent nine months fighting in the Korean War. He eventually became a senior engineer at Grumman Aerospace and made key contributions to several Apollo missions despite never acquiring a high school or college degree.
“His name is still on the moon,” Stueber said.
Later in the presentation, Loeb and Leuchter both appeared over Zoom and answered questions from the audience about their experiences and their thoughts on antisemitism in today’s world.
During the presentation, Stueber pointed out that, according to the Anti-Defamation League, there were 8,873 antisemitic incidents in 2023, a 140% increase over the prior year.
“I asked (someone) to walk me to my car because I’m afraid for my security,” Stueber said.
The 90-year-old Leuchter closed the presentation by urging those in attendance, “Don’t have enemies,” and not to let anyone or anything influence their thinking and make up their own minds.
