Luba’s Story

Holocaust survivor Luba Wrobel Goldberg was born and raised in Ciechanowiec, Poland. She attended the Zionist Tarbut school. After her father’s sudden death, Luba was sent by her mother to nearby Bialystok to study dressmaking at ORT Trade school. Little did Luba know at the time that this trade would later save her life more than once.

The family home was bombed during the German invasion, and Luba was sent to relatives in nearby Sokoly. She never saw her family again. In Sokoly Ghetto, Luba became a food smuggler.

Luba narrowly avoided death one early morning outside the ghetto. Instead of running from an entourage of German soldiers, Luba approached and greeted the soldiers. The following day, ghetto inhabitants were forced to witness the hanging of another smuggler.

Sensing imminent liquidation, Luba and some relatives managed to escape the ghetto. To maximize chances of survival, Luba separated from the family group, wandering in the forests, starved, cold, and alone. Luba sometimes received help in exchange for sewing, but was often turned away, escaping impending death on many occasions.

Luba knew her only hope was to find the Russian

by Fiona Kelmann

A Hero Our Hero

partisans; when she did, she attributed it to heavenly help. She joined the Zhukov Otriad in the Bransk Forest. Luba slept in a bunker under a tree, carried a rifle, and participated in several missions, including detonating telephone poles and live fire exchange with Armia Krajowa personnel and Nazi officers.

In the Bransk forest, a Jewish camp, headed by the Olesnki brothers, fed, and cared for over 70 Jews while providing food, arms, and medicine to the Russian command. Luba always wanted the story of the Olenskis to be told.

From the end of 1943, Luba chaperoned Luba Frank to protect her from rape. This young Luba had bravely jumped from a train to Treblinka. She was found and rescued by Duvche Olenski. The two Lubas became ‘sisters of the forest’ and participated in a daring mission together when their group detonated a bridge after walking all night for 30 kilometers without a stop. Little Luba survived and later married Duvche Olenski.

Luba never saw herself as a victim. In the forest, there was fighting, danger, and death. But there was also singing, laughter, romance, and life. Luba was one of only two members of her Otriad, decorated for bravery.

From the Bransk Yizkor Book: A Tchekheavster young woman is hiding in the Bransk forest with the Bransk Partisans. At the attack on their trench on 8 December 1943 she shows how brave she is. Luba stands in the trench and is visible from the waist up. She is shooting. Whilst Vanye Zhabate shoots, she prepares more weapons for him. She hands them to him and shouts bravely “Shoot Vanye,” whilst using the automatic pistol herself and directing Vanya. She survived.

After the war Luba married Chaim Goldberg, a Holocaust survivor from Sokoly, Poland. They fled Poland due to persistent antisemitism and were placed in a Displaced Persons Camp in Waldenburg, Germany, where daughter Goldie was born, and soon, a son, Jack, in Milan, Italy. They emigrated from Italy to Melbourne, Australia, in 1949 aboard the Napoli. In Melbourne, Luba and Chaim worked 16 hours days in manual labour. They opened a shmatte shop with their savings in Brunswick. Luba’s shop became a haven where diverse women gathered to receive advice, blessings, and clothing, free of charge if in need.

In her early seventies, Luba studied VCE English and later wrote two memoirs. The first, A Spark of Hope (2002), detailed her survival during the Holocaust. The second, Australia, My New Home (2004), explored Luba’s trials and tribulations as a new immigrant. Most of Luba’s inner circle were Holocaust survivors, but Luba loved to meet people from all walks of life, young and old. She would smile, advise, and stress the importance of optimism and faith.

After moving to aged care, new friendships were made, particularly with staff, many of whom came from refugee backgrounds. They were all given signed copies of her books until none were left.

Aged 90, Luba commenced an artistic career, painting hundreds of paintings depicting scenes from her life. She continued to paint until her eyesight failed her, only recently.

Luba Wrobel Goldberg passed away peacefully on 18 May 2022 aged 99 years old. She is survived by her two children, six grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. This is an edited excerpt of a eulogy given at Luba’s funeral on 19 May 2022 by Fiona Kelmann and Sharon Roseman, two of Luba’s grandchildren.