Goldstein and Bursztyn family papers
Extent and Medium
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Creator(s)
- Goldstein family
Biographical History
Elie (Eliahu) Goldstein (1914-1945) was born in Siennica, Poland (Mińsk county), to David and Esther Goldsztejn and had six brothers and sisters. His brother Jojne (Jonas) Goldstein (1912-1998) married Hela (Chajcia) Bursztyn (1918-?) in 1942 in the Siennica ghetto. Chajcia’s parents were Jankel and Miriam Freydl Bursztyn. When the Siennica ghetto was liquidated, most Goldstein and Bursztyn family members were sent to Treblinka, but Jonas and Chajcia escaped to the labor camp in Mienia along with her sister Mindl (Mania) Bursztyn (1920-1943) and his brothers Elie and Schmiel Goldstein (1917-1943). When Mienia was threatened with liquidation, they returned to Siennica and its neighboring towns, hiding among the local Christian population, with the Król and Budzyński families, on farms, and in fields. Jonas’s and Chajcia’s newborn son was killed by the Polish people who were hiding them on the day he was born. Schmiel was captured in August 1943 and is believed to have been hanged by Poles for stealing food. Mania disappeared in September and is presumed to have been killed by people paid to hide her. Following liberation, Elie tried to help a cousin reclaim his home but was shot and killed by the Polish people occupying it. Jonas and Chajcia made their way via Tirschenreuth, Germany to Bogotá, Colombia, and had three more children.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Estela Goldstein
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Estela Esther Goldstein donated the Goldstein and Bursztyn family papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2013.
Scope and Content
The Goldstein and Bursztyn family papers consist of Elie Goldstein's and Hela (Chajcia) Bursztyn Goldstein's diaries, written in Yiddish, describing Nazi occupied Poland, the liquidation of the Siennica ghetto, their time at the Mienia labor camp, and their experiences hiding in the Polish countryside with Christian families, on farms, and in fields. The collection also includes photographs documenting the Goldstein and Bursztyn families and their friends before, during, and after the war in Poland and Germany.
System of Arrangement
The Goldstein and Bursztyn family papers are arranged as two series: I. Diaries, approximately 1942-1944, II. Photographs, approximately 1921-1947
Subjects
- Hiding places--Poland.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Mińsk Mazowiecki (Powiat).
- Holocaust victims--Poland.
- Mińsk Mazowiecki (Poland : Powiat)
- Jews--Poland--Mińsk Mazowiecki (Powiat)--Diaries.
Genre
- Diaries.
- Photographs.
- Document