Szaja Ajzen walks along a street in Chelm in military uniform. Estera Ajzen (now Ester Lewin) is the daughter of Chaim Josef and Necha (Schumacher) Ajzen. She was born October 5, 1919 in Chelm and had four sisters: Chaika, Mania, Malka and Ethel. After finishing school Estera worked in Foto-Film Venus, a photography studio in Chelm. Following the German invasion of Poland, the Ajzen family fled to the Soviet zone. A few months later, in January 1940, they were deported to the Viatka labor camp in the Komi SSR. After their release in April 1941, Estera and her family moved to Gorky, where her father died a few days later, on April 9, 1943. While in Gorky, Estera met Abram Lewin, a Soviet Jewish soldier from Derazhnya, Ukraine. The couple was married on February 8, 1944. After the war Estera and Abram settled in Poland, where they remained until immigrating to the United States in 1956.
