Anna Goldman was born in 1937 and currently lives in Częstochowa, Poland. During World War II, her family lived in the Częstochowa ghetto for a year and seven months before escaping with the help of Polish friends. She completed her secondary education and medical training in Zabrze. As a child during the war, she experienced hunger and bombing in the Warsaw ghetto. Today, she still practices medicine but recalls experiencing anti-Semitism from a former patient.

1. THIS PRESENTATION IS
DEVOTED TO ANNA
GOLDMAN
PREPARED BY
Kamila Chabińska
I e

2. ANNA GOLDMAN
Anna Goldman was born in October 1937. Currently
she lives in Częstochowa.

3. FAMILY
Before the outbreak of World War II Anna's parent lived in
Gnaszyn, 5 kilometres from Częstochowa, where both worked
in Gnaszyn Manufaktura. Her father was the chief engineer
and mother was a bookkeeper. Her father had two brothers
and sisters and her mother had four sisters. Her father's older
brother was a gynaecologist. He worked in the hospital in
Częstochowa. He had a wife and daughter, half a year older
than Anna. Her father's sister was a lawyer and, together with
her husband, also a lawyer, ran a law firm. Her father's
younger brother was a ceramic engineer and got marrien just
before the War. Her mother's sisters all lived in Częstochowa,
exept one who left to work in France in the 1920's. She lost her
husband during the War. He was active in the Resistance
Movement. She was left with two children in Paris and died
there in 1998. Anna's cousin, born in London in 1936, also
survived the War.

4. PHOTOS

5. CHILDHOOD - WAR
When she was a child that was a Was and the tragedy of the
Holocaust. The War found her family on holiday in
Ciechocinek, so they returned to Częstochowa straight away.
Her father and his brother and brother-in-law, went off to
fight in the east. His brother was mobilised into the army and
died. The ghetto in Częstochowa was established on 9th April
1941. Following the return of her father and his brother-in-law,
they moved them all in there. They all lived together - around
seven people, in the beginning in two rooms. After the area of
the Ghetto was reduced (the so-called "Small Ghetto") they
lived in one room. After a year and seven months in the
Ghetto, before Rosh Hashana and the time of the Ghetto's
liquidation, with the help of Polish friend, they managed to
escape from the Ghetto and travel to Warsaw. They got new
names and surnames. She was called "Halinka Gawrońska".

7. EDUCATION
She completed secondary school in Częstochowa,
and then medicine in Zabrze. She worked in a
hospital and, from 1965, then at the clinic where, to
this day, she still practise her profession.

9. TIME OF WAR
The Warsaw Uprisin, in 1944, found them on Wspólna Street.
They lived on the second floor. Later, bombs and shells started
falling on Warsaw. They called them "cows" because you could
hear mooing prior to the impact. They had to move to the
basement.Many people sat there. It was crowded and dark.
When a shell hit their building, it became dark from all the dust.
There was nothing to eat. Her toy, then, was a doll made from
buttoned-up coat stuffed with scarves. She told that all around
them, there was fighting and noise.

11. POSTWAR TIME
Until 1954, her mother and she lived in Gnaszyn on a
floor of the factory villa. After the creation of a pre-
school within the villa, they moved in with her aunt
and uncle.
Until 1967, her mother worked in a factory in
Gnaszyn as bookkeeper and cashier. Her aunt and
uncle were lawyers. In the beginning, they ran a
private legal practice. After the introduction of legal
firms, they joined one of them. Her uncle also
worked as a lecturer in the Higher School of
Administration. Her aunt actively joined in
communal service work.

12. "As a Jew, do you feel safe in modent-day Częstochowa?"
"I have never encountered any anti-Semitism directed at me
personally. However, I can't deny, that, generally speaking, it
does appear. It hurts me very much and I react to it sharply. I
once had a patient who left to work in Germany. He brought
me medication from there for severe attacks of asthma.
During his next visit, he couldn't hold back any longer and ask
me: "You gave a sort od German surname. Why didn't you
leave for Germany?" I replied: "It's not a German surname, it's
Jewish". I never saw him again."
INTERVIEW

13. FEW MEMORIES – ANNA’S
STATEMENTS
”My mother was a beautiful woman, a blonde, and
sometimes drew attention of the Germans.”
”I remember one incident when Russian soldiers
dropped in. On the shelf, there was a small bottle of
vinegar without label. Because I was standing in his
way, one of them brutally knocked me over as he ran
over to it.”
”In ghetto, also, there was nothing to eat. Sometimes
there was a piece of bread.”
”All around us, there was fighting and noise.”

14. The presentation is based on the b00k ”The Jews
of Częstochowa. The Fate of Częstochowa Jews
1945-2009.” written by Jerzy Mizgalski and Jerzy
Sielski.
Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
Toruń 2012