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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part
I
Part
II
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Volume 15c
Myra Gutman
Vivid Recollections
of a Survivor
published by the
Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies
Copyright �
Myra Gutman, 2001
Key Words
Radom
(city in Poland), Hashomer Hatzair, leather factory, Peretz library,
Nazi invasion of Poland, Radom ghetto, Blizyn (concentration camp),
typhoid epidemic, Auschwitz, cattle cars, Bomlitz (munitions factory
in), Bergen Belsen, forced labour, Elsnik (munitions factory in),
Liberation, antisemitism, Mittenwald (town in Germany), UNRRA, Montreal,
Canada, Radomer Society, Holocaust Remembrance Committee,
Abstract
Born
in Radom, Poland. Family suffered greatly during the Great Depression,
although father was able to find work through an uncle who was a
prominent leather merchant. Mother worked as a seamstress to help
support the family. Joined Hashomer Hatzair before the war. Describes
the effects of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 and the formation
of a ghetto in Radom in 1941. Describes a brave act by several Hashomer
Hatzair members to save books from the Peretz library and smuggle
them into the ghetto. Also describes deplorable conditions in the
ghetto, and the spread of hunger and disease. Fourteen year-old
brother was caught smuggling food, was sent to prison and never
seen again. Sister contracted typhoid but survived. She and sister
sent to Blizyn concentration camp. Also contracted typhoid and managed
to survive. In 1944, she and sister were deported to Auschwitz in
cattle cars. Were then sent to Bomlitz to work in a munitions factory,
then to Bergen Belsen where conditions were extremely unsanitary.
Sent to Elsnik, where they again worked in a munitions factory.
Sister became very ill. At the end of the war, they were put on
cattle cars heading towards the Eastern front. Train bombed by Allied
forces, she and sister managed to escape. Returned to Radom after
Liberation, describes open hostility and antisemitism she witnessed
there. She and sister decided to go to Mittenwald, Germany after
learning her sister’s boyfriend, Jacob Gutman, had survived
and was living there in an UNRRA funded hotel. Marries Hyman Gutman,
Jacob’s brother, in 1946. Their son, Aron Baruch, was born
in 1947. Describes voyage to Canada, and arrival in Halifax. Baby
fell ill on train to Montreal, describes how Jewish community in
Moncton provided support until their baby recovered. She and husband
settled in Montreal. Described various hardships while building
a new life in Canada. Joined the Holocaust Remembrance Committee
as a founding member. In 1973, was voted president of the women’s
division of the Holocaust Remembrance Committee; describes various
events the Committee became involved in and her participation in
and commitment to Holocaust education.
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