Malvina Stras

Malvina Stras, 84, of Overland Park, KS passed away Saturday, March 22, 2008. Funeral services will be at 1:00pm Monday, March 24 at The Louis Memorial Chapel, 6830 Troost Avenue, burial at Sheffield Cemetery. Kindly omit flowers. The family suggests contributions to Congregation Ohev Sholom, 5311 West 75th Street, Prairie Village, Kansas 66208 or Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care; 9221 Ward Parkway, Suite 100; Kansas City, MO 64114.
Malvina's family, Neiman, came from Batarci-Tamaseni in the Satu-Mare District in Romania. This area later became part of Hungary. Malvina was 18 when she and her sisters were dragged from their home by the Nazis. The Niemans walked all day to the cattle train that deported them to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where her parents and most of her family died. Later in the summer of 1944, Malvina was taken to Gelsen-Kirchen Camp and then to Essen Camp in the Ruhr District of Germany.
In 1945 she was sent to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Of seven children in the family, all but three sisters died. Malvina was delirious with typhus and blind in one eye from beatings when liberated from Bergen-Belsen.
Malvina met Walter Stras, a soccer player, in the Displaced Persons camp in Germany. They married on February 14, 1947, outdoors under a chupah (canopy), surrounded by snow.
Malvina and Walter came to the United States and settled in Kansas City, Missouri because Walter’s surviving sister, Mildred Stras Kritzler, had been sponsored for resettlement by Mr. and Mrs. Hyman Brand just before World War II.
Walter contracted multiple sclerosis at a young age from beatings in the camps. He spent his last years in Shalom Geriatric Center, teaching students the lessons of the Holocaust from his wheelchair.*
* Excerpted from: From the Heart: Life Before and After the Holocaust – A Mosaic of Memories. Edited by Monroe Dodd, published by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and Kansas City Star Books (2001). Biographical narrative by Trudi Galblum.
Malvina was a Member of Congregation Ohev Sholom for nearly 50 years. She was a lifetime member of the Sisterhood at Ohev Sholom, Hadassah and AMIT. She was a member of Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and the New Americans Club.
Malvina was preceded in death by her husband, Walter, also a courageous Holocaust Survivor who died in 1995. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law: Stephen and Barbara Stras, Overland Park, KS; son and his wife: Simon and Susan Stras, Salt Lake City, UT; grandsons: Jacob Stras, Las Vegas NV, David Stras and his wife, Heather, Minneapolis, MN; Daniel Stras, Wichita, KS; great-grandsons: Brandon and Benjamin Stras, Minneapolis, MN. Although most of her family perished in the Holocaust, she is survived by one sister, Ibi Schewatz, currently residing in California.
Malvina was a gentle soul, loving, devoted and caring wife, mother and grandmother. Malvina was courageous, determined and always giving of herself. Her greatest joy was watching her children grow and teaching them the importance of life and family. Her hand kneaded challah bread, lemon pie, apple pie, and potato kugel were like none other. She took great pride in all delicious foods, lovingly prepared, never from a recipe but “a pinch of this and a dash of that.” She will be sadly missed by all.