103: Ella Blumenthal

 

Ella Blumenthal turns 103 years old today (July 25^th.)

Ella Blumenthal was born on July 25, 1921 in Warsaw, Poland. She was the youngest of 7 Children.

She was 18 years old when the Germans invaded in September 1939 and her carefree and happy life ended.

In October 1940 the Germans forced her and her Family into the Warsaw Ghetto (along with 460,000 other Jews.)

By 1943 only her Father and her Niece, Roma, were still alive. The others having been deported from the Ghetto to the Death Camps by the Germans.

From April 19-May 16, 1943 Ella helped in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Germans.

When the Ghetto Uprising ended she was one of the 50,000 Jews sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Majdanek Death Camp (along with her Father and Niece.)

At Majdanek her Father was killed in the Gas Chamber upon arrival.

Ella and Roma were also selected to go to the Gas Chambers, along with 700 other Women, but as they were undressed and waiting inside the Gas Chamber a German came in and told them to get out.

He was given the order to gas a Transport of 500 Women (arriving the next day) not this Transport of 700 Women. So, because of Strict German Rule-Following  he let them go and Ella and Roma lived.

Shortly after, Ella and Roma were sent to the Auschwitz Death Camp.

In November 1944 Ella and Roma were sent from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp where they were liberated by the British on April 15, 1945.

After the War Ella went back to Warsaw to learn what happened to her Family (out of the 23 Members of her Immediate Family only Ella, Roma and Roma’s Father who had escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and made it to Palestine  - Israel - survived) and then she moved to Paris.

 In 1947 she moved to Palestine (later Israel) where she met and married her Husband, Issac (a Jew from South Africa.)

She has 4 Children, 11 Grandchildren and 9 Great-Grandchildren.

You can watch the 2021 Documentary “I am Here” about her life in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Death and Concentration Camps on Amazon.

She is currently living in Cape Town, South Africa.