Piera and Meyer Solender papers

Piera Solender (1916-1991) was born Piera del Strologo in Livorno, Italy. The family closed their fabric stores and relocated to Milan in 1941. In August 1943, their apartment was destroyed while they were on vacation. Her brother and his family, one of her sisters, and their father survived the rest of the war in Switzerland. Piera, her sister Nilda, and their mother traveled south and were sheltered by Gigi Corleone near Senigallia. They returned to Milan in September 1945, and Piera met Meyer Solender in 1948. Meyer (Majer) Solender (1919-1976) was born in Tarnów, Poland, survived five concentration camps including Mauthausen. He married Piera del Strologo in 1949, and they immigrated to the United States in 1950, settling in Philadelphia. The Piera and Meyer Solender papers consist of two identification cards for Meyer Solender (a Jewish Community of Milan identification card and a reproduction of a Provisional identification card for civilian internee of Mauthausen) and a brief autobiographical testimony describing Piera Solender’s life.