The Ovitz family was a family of Hungarian Jewish actors/traveling
musicians originating from present Romania, who survived imprisonment
at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Most of them
were dwarfs. They were the largest family of dwarfs ever recorded and
were the largest family to enter Auschwitz and survive intact; the
family of twelve ranged from a 15-month-old baby to a 58-year-old
woman.The Ovitz family originated from MaramureÈ™ County, Romania.
They were descended from Shimson Eizik Ovitz (1868â€"1923), a badchen
entertainer, itinerant rabbi and himself a dwarf. He fathered ten
children in total, seven of them dwarfs (born with
pseudoachondroplasia), from two marriages.The children from his first
marriage to Brana Fruchter (she was of average height), Rozika
(1886â€"1984) and Franzika (1889â€"1980), were both dwarfs. Shimson's
second wife, Batia Bertha Husz, also of average height, produced the
following children: Avram (1903â€"1972; dwarf), Freida (1905â€"1975;
dwarf), Sarah (1907â€"1993; average height), Micki (1909â€"1972;
dwarf), Leah (1911-1987; average height), Elizabeth (1914â€"1992;
dwarf), Arie (1917â€"1944; average height), and Piroska (a.k.a.
"Perla"; 1921â€"2001; dwarf).The children founded their own ensemble,
the Lilliput Troupe. They sang and played music using small
instruments and performed all over Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
in the 1930s and 1940s. The taller relatives helped backstage. The
Ovitzes sang in Yiddish, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian and German. When
they were not touring, they lived in a single house with their
spouses.
musicians originating from present Romania, who survived imprisonment
at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Most of them
were dwarfs. They were the largest family of dwarfs ever recorded and
were the largest family to enter Auschwitz and survive intact; the
family of twelve ranged from a 15-month-old baby to a 58-year-old
woman.The Ovitz family originated from MaramureÈ™ County, Romania.
They were descended from Shimson Eizik Ovitz (1868â€"1923), a badchen
entertainer, itinerant rabbi and himself a dwarf. He fathered ten
children in total, seven of them dwarfs (born with
pseudoachondroplasia), from two marriages.The children from his first
marriage to Brana Fruchter (she was of average height), Rozika
(1886â€"1984) and Franzika (1889â€"1980), were both dwarfs. Shimson's
second wife, Batia Bertha Husz, also of average height, produced the
following children: Avram (1903â€"1972; dwarf), Freida (1905â€"1975;
dwarf), Sarah (1907â€"1993; average height), Micki (1909â€"1972;
dwarf), Leah (1911-1987; average height), Elizabeth (1914â€"1992;
dwarf), Arie (1917â€"1944; average height), and Piroska (a.k.a.
"Perla"; 1921â€"2001; dwarf).The children founded their own ensemble,
the Lilliput Troupe. They sang and played music using small
instruments and performed all over Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
in the 1930s and 1940s. The taller relatives helped backstage. The
Ovitzes sang in Yiddish, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian and German. When
they were not touring, they lived in a single house with their
spouses.
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