Hi, Mordecai,
This is great news. I had the honor to meet Dr. Thea Friedman several years
ago at her place. She told us her story and about the involvement of the
Gronich family in the efforts to rescue her when she returned illegally from
Transnistria to Czernowitz. ( Oded B. can tell you more about it)
Amazing woman !
Thank you,
Regards,
Irene
P.S. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, April 11, at 20:00 Israel
time. You can watch it online.
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2018/index.asp
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-122451346-3499296_at_list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-122451346-3499296_at_list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of
lapidotm_at_inter.net.il
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 9:53 AM
To: czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu
Subject: [Cz-L] Torch kindling on Tekes Yom Hashoa
--Boundary_(ID_oCpWYpBjRg/fXeFn//4r9g)
One of the 6 kindlers of the torches on the com memorial ceremony Erev Yom
Hashoa tomorrow evening will be Dr. Thea Friedman, a Czernowitzer and
Transnistria survivor..
Dr. Thea Friedman was born in 1924 in Czernowitz, Romania, the only child of
Yosef and Yetty Kwalenberg.
In June 1941, the Germans bombed the city and Thea was sent to her relatives
in a nearby village. German and Romanian soldiers reached the area and began
harassing the residents. Thea and her aunt fled to a nearby thicket, and
after the soldiers left, Thea returned to Czernowitz, passing many dead
bodies along the road.
In September 1941, a ghetto was established in Czernowitz. Some 20 people
were housed in Thea's home. In November, her family was put in an
overcrowded cattle car, with no food or water, and sent on a two-day journey
to Atachi. Romanian soldiers plundered the deportees' valuables. Thea's
family crossed the Dniester River and was deported to the Mogilev-Podolski
ghetto. Yosef was taken to perform forced labor, while Thea worked clerical
jobs for 150 grams of bread per day.
In December 1942, Thea fled the ghetto. She crossed the frozen Dniester on
foot and went back to Czernowitz. She tried in vain to find refuge among
relatives and acquaintances, and ultimately hid in the house of Prof. Kalman
Gronich and his wife. When she was caught in a surprise search, she tried to
commit suicide by swallowing pills, but her captors had her stomach pumped.
She was eventually freed with the help of a bribe paid by the Jewish
community.
Late in 1943, Thea met activists from the Gordonia youth movement, and
acquired a forged passport. She reached Bucharest, where she met Yoseph, her
future husband. After being arrested in a police raid, she was imprisoned,
but she left the jailhouse daily to work in a hospital.
In July 1944, Thea was released from jail. Romania capitulated to the Red
Army a month later. In 1945, she registered for medical school in
Timișoara. In 1950, she married Yoseph and began practicing medicine.
Their applications to leave for Israel were repeatedly turned down.
In 1958, Thea, Yoseph and their son finally immigrated to Israel. She began
working as an ophthalmologist in the Haifa Bay area, and then in various
hospitals in central Israel. She is an emeritus professor of the Faculty of
Ophthalmology at Tel Aviv University (TAU).
Yoseph helped lay the foundations of family medicine in Israel and taught at
the TAU School of Medicine.
Thea and the late Yoseph have a son, who is also a physician, and five
grandchildren.
[Mordecai Lapidot]
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Received on 2018-04-09 23:55:46