Elka Ekstein
Author: Elka Ekstein
Publisher: Makor Jewish Community Library
Place of publication: Melbourne, Australia
Year of Publication: 2006
Location of Book: JHC; Lamm Jewish Library
Cities/town/camps: Poland – Grodno; Bialystok; Stutthof; Auschwitz-Birkenau; Ravensbruck, Gleiwitz; Australia – Melbourne.
Chutzpe un Draystkayt is the life story of Elke Fomin. The book is divided into three sections – the first section (pages 1- 8) details Elka’s family background and life before the war; the middle part chronicles the war period and liberation (pages 9-44); and the remainder of the memoir portrays Elka’s journey to Australia and her new life in Melbourne with husband Yosl, and raising a family (pages 40-70). It is worth noting that the book features 67 photographs of Elka’s family before and after the war. Elsa’s book is broken up into short chapters and reads like a diary. The story contains interesting anecdotes about Elsa’s life and her extended family.
Before the War
Elka was born in Grodno, Poland on 20 October 1928 to Golda and Berel Fomin. She was the ninth child in a family of thirteen. Elka attended I.L.Peretz, the local Jewish school. The family was traditional and went to synagogue. Elka was well aware of antisemitism from an early age, but she clearly recalls a happy childhood.
During The War
When the bombs started falling, Elka was at a school camp but was close enough to run home to her house that had not suffered damage. However, it was not long before the German soldiers occupied the streets and began their ‘reign of terror.’ On 1 November 1941, Elka’s neighbourhood became part of the Grodno Ghetto. Elka describes life in the ghetto until January 1943 when her family was rounded up for deportation. Miraculously Ella escaped from the deportation train and returned to Bialystok, where she was surprised to discover that her sister, Sonia had also jumped from the transport. She never saw the other family members again. One month later came the first ‘aktion’ (roundup) in Bialystok, which Elka and Sonia managed to avoid. For the next six months, Elka worked on a Polish farm outside the ghetto walls, while her sister worked in a clothing factory. After the second ‘aktion’ the sisters went into hiding in a bunker where they remained until their arrest on 5 November 1943. After three weeks in prison, the girls were transported to Stutthof where they remained for seven weeks. From there, they were packed into cattle wagons and deported to Auschwitz. Elka was tattooed with the number 74197. She spent six months with Sonia in Auschwitz and a further six months in Birkenau, working at the Union munitions factory. This section of the book recalls some of the events and people during that period. In January 1945, the girls were transferred in cattle wagons to Ravensbruck where Elke remembers the dirt and hunger. After four weeks she was sent on a ‘Death March’ to a factory camp in Neustadt, Gleiwitz where conditions were again appalling. Finally on 2 May 1945, Sonia and Elke were liberated.
After The War
Elka describes her movements and life in the first year of liberation recalling the relief and enjoyment of her sister’s marriage and baby and meeting her future Husband Yosl. They settle in Sweden for over two years, until they secured visas to Australia. Elka details their six week journey on the SS Sorrento, the people who helped them begin a new life in Melbourne and the birth of their three daughters, Golda, Sue and Chavele. The book ends with a Postscript under the Title ‘Life Goes on and the Family Grows.’
This book is marked by its attention to detail and is a fitting testimony to a young woman’s strength and determination.