Dorotka Goldstein

Born: February 1, 1932, Warsaw, Poland

Dorotka was the youngest of three children in a Jewish family. Her father was the director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Warsaw and worked for a popular newspaper. An avid Zionist, he had traveled to Palestine.

1933-39: My father established a soup kitchen in Warsaw for Jewish refugees who had fled from Germany. In September 1939 I was supposed to begin first grade when war broke out. My father escaped to Vilna with other Jewish leaders. People were suffering, but I didn't understand why. I was content with my playmates and my dolls.

1940-44: After my father brought us to Vilna, the Germans killed him and deported me, my mother and sister to the Stutthof camp. My mother died slowly of hunger. When my sister and I were sent to be gassed, a German saved me, saying, "Look at this rotten Jewish child; she has such beautiful eyes." My sister waved so I wouldn't follow her. When the Soviets neared Stutthof, two Germans with machine guns shot everyone in my barracks. Lying sick on my tummy and weighing just 40 pounds, I felt the sting of two bullets in my back.

Dorotka was found unconscious in her bunk two hours later when the camp was liberated by Soviet troops on May 9, 1945. She emigrated to Israel in 1952. (Copyright by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council)