An act of kindness Guta Goldstein
Guta Goldstein and her granddaughter Tali Prawer
G
uta Goldstein was born in Lodz, Poland in 1930. She was the first child of Fela and Judah Kopel. Her mostly carefree childhood was abruptly cut short on 1 September 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland. Forced to move into the Lodz Ghetto with her family and the rest of Lodz’s Jewish community, Guta witnessed her father’s death from pneumonia in 1941. Guta and her younger sister, Munia, were placed in the Marysin orphanage where, following an outbreak of measles, Munia died from meningitis. Guta’s Aunt Golda rescued her from the orphanage before its liquidation in September 1942 and,
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JHC Centre News
despite being small and undernourished, she survived numerous selections and subsequent deportations.
in Melbourne, Guta met Ludek Goldstein, also a Holocaust survivor, and together they built a new life.
When the Lodz Ghetto was liquidated in August 1944, Guta, together with her aunt and cousin, were deported to Auschwitz. From there Guta was transferred to Bergen-Belsen and finally to Meltheuer, a slave labour camp from which she was liberated in April 1945. She was fifteen years of age and all alone. After four and a half years as a displaced person in Italy, Guta, together with her cousin Inka and her family, were migrated to Australia. Settling
Guta Goldstein’s liberation document.
