Interactive Map

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A small village in the mountains of the Dominican Republic, where the Bandlers operated a hotel established by DORSA to offer respite to the residents of Sosúa. The brutal heat and humidity of the Caribbean Island, hard physical labor, and poor sanitation, combined with the emotional distress of dislocation, all took a toll on the new Jewish residents, most of whom were unaccustomed to physical labor and the tropical climate. When Barbara and her sister weren’t helping in the hotel, they could be found riding horses and playing with other children.

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Barbara Bandler was born on November 26, 1936 in Győr. Barbara’s mother, Margit Vamosi Bandler, was originally from Győr and, although she and Barbara’s father Alexander Bandler lived in Italy, they returned to Hungary for their daughter’s birth.

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Barbara Bandler and her family moved from Arverne, NY to Detroit in the fall of 1947, when Alexander was offered a better paying job at a nightclub. As her parents gradually found their way to a more stable life, Barbara attended school and strove to become a normal American teenager.

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Location of the historic Mount Washington Hotel, which has been the site of numerous important conferences and political summits. Through Jewish charitable agencies and personal connections, Alexander and Margit Bandler found seasonal work here during the summer of 1945. Because the children of employees were not allowed to stay at the hotel, the Bandler family was separated for the first time since the start of the war. Barbara and Ann spent their first summer in the U.S. at Camp Eden, a Jewish summer camp.