Alisa Tennenbaum

Alisa was born Lisalotte Scherzer in 1929 in Vienna, Austria to her parents Moshe Mordechai Scherzer, born in Austria, and Edith nee Butterweich, born in Galicia, and sister to Melitta-Miriam. When she was 10 years old, on 22 August 1939, Alisa was sent by her family on the last Kindertransport to Tynemouth England near the city of Newcastle. In June 1940 she was transferred to Windermere, where she lived in a hostel with other girls throughout the war.

In December 1945 she joined her father, who had made his way to Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother had been transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau and released in Ravensbrueck. In October 1949, Alisa immigrated to Israel with her parents on the Kedma ship and settled in Beit Yanai near her sister and her family. In January 1951, she married Jerusalem-born Benjamin Tennenbaum, who was her teacher at the ulpan and they moved to Beit Herut.

Alisa and Benjamin Tennenbaum had two

daughters: Bina and Batel, and today Alisa has six grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. 

In May 1967, her husband Benjamin died. Alisa worked as a seamstress until her daughters were born, and later worked for 27 years as a librarian in the regional high school of Emek Hefer and eventually ran the library. Since her retirement in 1994, she has worked as a volunteer secretary at Yad Lebanim Emek Hefer (a non-profit organization providing services to bereaved families) and today volunteers at Beit David. For 16 years she has headed the Kindertransport Children's Organization in Israel and is responsible for organizing many conferences and activities.