Post-Holocaust
Post War
After the Holocaust ended and Americans liberated Vera's concentration camp, she went on with her life continuing to keep her head held high and had a positive attitude. Vera discovered soon after that only she and her cousin Marika had survived the war, so they found refuge in DP camp for a few years. The two of them ended up spending two years in a DP camp in Austria, where Vera worked as a secretary for the American joint committee. She was very excited when she found out she would get the chance to attend college in America, and resumed with her carefree life.
United States of America
In May of 1946, the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life offered scholarships for educated English speakers to whom both Vera and Marika and received. They got to leave Europe and attend the University of Washington beginning the following year in December of 1947. They came to America on the SS Marine Tiger, docking at Ellis Island. Once she began her studies in March, she joined the Jewish sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi (she was 23 by this time). She planned to double major in history and Romance languages, but ended up being half a credit short on a high school English requirement and she dropped out in 1951.
After college
In 1969, Vera returned to the University of Washington to finish her studies and at last receive her degree. She later worked as an accountant for her husband's business and worked with the Washington state Holocaust Education Center to put exhibits together inspired by survivor's stories.
Personal Life
She eventually settled down in Seattle and met a US army veteran who had served in the war in Europe, named Marvin Federman. They met on a ski trip Vera attended with some of her friends, and they later got married in 1949, eventually starting a family and having two children. Vera Federman became a part of the Speaker's Bureau for several years sharing her story with the community. She unfortunately passed away in 2017, on Holocaust Remembrance Day.