This happened after her family had been forcibly expelled from their home in occupied Soviet Ukraine.
Goldenshteyn said that she knew that she could be mistaken for a Ukrainian girl because of her lighter hair and blue eyes. She put on a kerchief, and she slipped out the ghetto.
It’s one story that Seattle native Goldenshteyn tells. His book, ” so They Remember,” recounts the Holocaust in Transnistria. This was a territory in occupied south Ukraine that was ruled by Romania, an ally of Nazi Germany for most the war.
There was a chapter in the Holocaust that took place in this territory. It involved around 150 camps, ghettos, and hundreds of thousands of Jews being exploited and brutally murdered. Many died from starvation, some from disease or exposure, and some were executed.
Goldenshteyn (33), whose family immigrated to the U.S. in 1992 from the Soviet Union, claims he heard fragments about his family’s history as a child, but never connected it with one of the darkest chapters of human history.
He said, “They didn’t really align with my image of the Holocaust which I believed was representative.” His mother then told him the story 10 years later.
He said, “I was shocked at the beginning.”
Inspired by the lessons he had learned, Goldenshteyn began a decade-long research trip to find out more about a section of the Holocaust that he felt was largely ignored.
He began by interviewing his grandfather Motl Braverman in his Seattle home. Braverman, who was killed in 2015, lived as an adolescent in the remote Pechera death camps with his family.
Goldenshteyn wrote that “My grandfather spoke with a certain detachedness, as if relating another’s experiences.” He assured me later that the death camp where he survived was not far from his thoughts.
Anna Braverman’s comforts as a child were “evaporated overnight” when her family was placed in Transnistria’s ghetto in 1941.
The awareness of Romania’s involvement in the Holocaust is much lower than that of the Nazis. However, the war saw the deaths of between 280,000 to 380,000 Jews and some 12,000 Roma in Romanian-controlled territory under Ion Antonescu’s military dictatorship. The Holocaust was almost forgotten by the decades of communism that followed.
Goldenshteyn stated that “I don’t think many people realize Romania was Germany’s principal ally to the East.” He also said that Romania’s communist period under Nicolae Ceausescu became the “traumatic and more immediate” history for Romanians.
The National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Romania found that 40% of the respondents weren’t interested in the Holocaust. Nearly two-thirds (32%) of those who believed that the Holocaust occurred in Romania incorrectly identified the deportation and internment of Jews to “camps under Nazi Germany control”.
Northwestern University historian Stefan Cristian Ionescu said that most Romanians believe that Nazi Germany is responsible for the Holocaust.
He said that he believed that many Romanians have difficulty accepting the fact that the Antonescu regime, as well as the Romanian authorities, were involved in the Holocaust. “In the mass murder and deportation of Jews in Romania and in occupied territories like Transnistria, as well as in dispossession.”
Romanian legislators passed a bill to include Holocaust education in the national school curriculum last fall. This was lauded by many. However, the far-right Alliance for Romanian Unity (which holds seats in parliament) called it an “ideological experiment” and a “minor subject”.
David Saranga (Israel’s Ambassador to Romania), strongly condemned the comments of the party, saying that such statements were “outright proof of either an inability to take responsibility or ignorance.”
Goldenshteyn believes Romanian authorities have made significant progress in recent years in recognising their country’s involvement in the Holocaust. He expressed concern at the comments of the party, but was also encouraged by the response from the diplomatic community.
Goldenshteyn, a father of two young children, said that it was important for countries with a dark history to face it. “Because without knowing where you have been, it is impossible to map the path forward. We don’t have enough information about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.
Last month, President Klaus Iohannis spoke at a Holocaust memorial at Bucharest’s Choral Temple Synagogue. He warned against conspiracy theories and misinformation and said that the pandemic had “amplified antisemitic attacks”.
Iohannis stated, “Let’s not close our eyes at these real dangers which are often cleverly concealed behind a claimed freedom to expression.”
Pechera camp had a sign on its gates that said “Death Camp” and was known for cases of cannibalism. Motl Braverman, an adolescent would run in danger to evade guards. He would walk long distances in sub-zero temperatures to get small food for his family. Later, he would help others escape the camp to safer ghettos.
Goldenshteyn stated that his grandfather was most affected by the fact that his grandfather’s story was not validated due to taboos regarding discussing the Holocaust. “So They Remember” is a story about humanity’s bravery and kindness, as well as the indifference of human suffering.
I think this book’s strength is its ability to combine a personal, family story with historical research. It makes it accessible to the public and not just a few scholars,” Ionescu stated. There is still much to learn about Romania’s involvement in the Holocaust, especially this Transnistria territory.
Goldenshteyn claims that he listened to only the audio recordings of interviews with his grandfather for many years. When he finally pressed play in 2017, he was struck again by the words of his grandfather.
His grandfather stated, “You should write it so that no one forgets.” “So they can remember.”
