Dwarf or Little person. Born in Rozavlea, Romania with Pseudoachondroplasia a form of dwarfism. Franzika was the second child of Shimshon Eizik and his first wife Brana Ovitz. Shimshon was a little person while his wife was of average height. There were 10 children in total, seven were dwarfs and the other three were of average height. Unable to work due to their size as a family they decided to entertain. They became known as the Lilliput Troupe. They traveled and entertained until the beginning of WW2 when as a Jewish family they were deported to Auschwitz. An SS soldier saw a family of with seven dwarfs and summoned Dr Josef Mengele to see them. He immediately took to them and placed them as well as the rest of their extended family 22 in all to the medical ward and conducted experiments on them. he told them that no harm would come to them as long as he was there. Mengele saved their lives in Auschwitz numerous times. Most of the family survived their time in Auschwitz, the ones who didnt were sent on a separate transport, and returned to the village they were from but found life there to difficult. They then moved to Sighet. Life was still very difficult there so they went to Belgium, the only country that would give the entire family visas. They continued to perform but found their audience limited. After getting offers from the United States and Israel they decided on Israel. In Israel life was hard but good, they did not speak Hebrew and had to learn quickly. They performed for years but as they were getting older decided to retire and ran a cinema.


Franzika married Marcel Leibovitz. Due to her small pelvis she was never able to have children.


They are the subject of the book "In our hearts we were giants."