Laura was the second of five children born to religious Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lvov. She was often called affectionately by her nickname, Lorka. Coming from an educated family living in a multi-ethnic part of Poland, she grew up speaking Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish. As a young woman, she earned a humanities degree from St. Nicholas University in Lvov.

1933-39: In April 1935 I became Mrs. Daniel Schwarzwald. My husband was a successful lumber exporter, and we lived in a spacious apartment in a fashionable district. In 1937 our daughter was born. Fearing war, Daniel urged us to emigrate, but I was scared to abandon my parents. When German and Soviet forces invaded Poland in September 1939, Lvov was annexed to Soviet Ukraine and Daniel's business was expropriated by the communists.