Ingrid Kisliuk

Ingrid Kisliuk (Inge Scheer) of blessed memory passed away from COVID-19 on April 13, 2020 at Orchard Cove in Canton, MA. For fifty-eight years a resident of Newton, she was born on 1/11/1930 in Austria to Saly Scheer (Zalme Szeer) and Helene (Cohen) Scheer. As a child she witnessed out her window Hitler’s hideously triumphant welcome into Vienna. She and her family escaped to Brussels, where she became “Irène” in an attempt to hide her origins. The war followed them into Belgium where they were forced into hiding, moving from place to place until Liberation Day. Ingrid lost many friends and family to Nazi deportation and murder, including her beloved sister Herta, who was lured away and murdered in Auschwitz at age 19. After several months in Argentina — where her older brother Ernst fled before the war — Ingrid and her parents landed in Lorain Ohio. As a traumatized 17 year-old who spoke five languages, she had little in common with local teenagers. While studying in Cleveland she met Roy Kisliuk, a graduate student in biochemistry, on the 4th of July 1954. They were married that Thanksgiving. Ingrid was a devoted mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and also a gifted scholar. Studying French Literature at Tufts University when her daughters were still young, she earned a Masters degree in 1971, a Doctorate in 1976, and taught at Tufts for over twenty years. In the late 1980s, with encouragement from family and from a new international organization of former hidden children, she began her memoir. This decade-long process involved reliving the horrors of her childhood, which gave her vivid nightmares. She published Unveiled Shadows: The Witness of a Child in 1998. From Trauma to Trepidation (2008) followed; in-depth interviews with adult children of former hidden children. She and Roy celebrated their 65th anniversary in November 2019. Both died in April 2020, eleven days apart. Ingrid is survived by her daughters Claudette Beit-Aharon and Michelle Kisliuk, grandchildren Nathan, Noah, and Miriam Beit-Aharon and Max Mongosso, great grandchildren Leila and Simon Beit-Aharon, and nieces Silvia Duchovny and Viviana Levinson. Donations in Ingrid and Roy’s memory can be made to two of their favorite charities, the ACLU and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The April 16th funeral was restricted to 10 local attendees. For remote shiva schedule and link, please send inquiries to this address: roy.l.kisliuk@gmail.com.