Anna Sender

Anna Sender was born in Chortkuw, Poland on August 16, 1922. Her family moved to Warsaw in 1932, where the family fur business Osseus & Sons was relocated. In 1938 as it became increasingly unsafe for Jewish men in Poland, her father Leon left with a group of men to escape to Asia. As a teenager, Anna remained in Warsaw with her mother Pepi, her brother Joseph, and her sister Nusia. Anna and her younger brother are survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, where they were in hiding until the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April, 1943. Their family was largely protected by the generosity and bravery of the Urwicz family, who operated a factory in the Ghetto which converted rags to re-usable fabric. The family was able to provide working papers to a number of factory workers, and protected many more people than were allowed. Her mother Pepi and sister Nusia were deported from their home, and perished at the death camp Treblinka.

After escaping the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, Anna and her brother Joseph were in hiding in the countryside of Poland until they were liberated in 1945. She met her husband Stefan during that period. After World War II, they spent three years in a displaced persons camp in Berlin. Their last name was changed from Paucanfeld to Sender when they immigrated to the United States. They arrived in New York in 1948, and settled in Queens, where she lived for the rest of her life. Later in 1948 she was reunited with her father, who she had not seen or known was alive for 10 years. Leon Steiner survived the war in a Japanese internment camp in China.

Anna initially started working a variety of jobs in New York to earn money, and became a successful sales associate at Saks Fifth Avenue. She started a business with her husband Stefan, known as Aste Trading. Aste Trading became one of the largest importers of Seiko watches, and was involved in many areas of electronic imports from Japan and China.

Anna was a glamorous woman and world traveler, and started doing business in Japan and China in the 1960s when very few westerners had done direct business in those countries. She skied in St Moritz, Zermatt, Courchevel, and Aspen. She visited Hong Kong, Japan, the South of France, and the Italian Coast. She was a frequent visitor to the Bahamas, where she was well known and had a passion for blackjack.

Anna celebrated her 100th birthday in August, 2022, and had picked out her outfit for her 101st birthday which she sadly did not have the chance to wear. Anna was always artistic, and became a prolific painter in her later years. She was still living independently, and painting daily in her home until the week before she died. She created hundreds of paintings which hang throughout her home.

Anna is survived by her loving daughter Vivian, who was her pride and joy, and son-in-law Robert. "She was immensely proud of her grandchildren Ian, Mackenzie and his wife Brittany,

Jacqueline and Frederick." Her love and strength will be missed by all that she inspired.