Gucia Grosfeld Frydmacher

Gucia Grosfeld Frydmacher

Born: 1913

Radom, Poland

Gucia was born to middle-class Jewish parents in Radom, an industrial city known for its armaments factory, in which Jews were not allowed to work, and for a leather industry, in which many Jews were employed. Radom had a large and active Jewish community, and at home Gucia's family spoke both Polish and Yiddish. Gucia completed her schooling in Radom.

1933-39: As a young woman, Gucia was introduced to Benjamin Frydmacher, a young Jewish tanner from Lublin who occasionally came to Radom to visit his relatives. The two married and settled in Lublin, where they moved in with Benjamin's mother in an apartment at 50 Lubartowska Street. Their daughter, Ruth, was born in early 1938. On September 17, 1939, 16 days after Germany invaded Poland, German troops entered Lublin.

1940-42: In 1941 the Germans established a ghetto in Lublin. Benjamin's tannery, which was located outside the ghetto, was ordered to produce leather for the Germans. When the Germans began liquidating the ghetto in 1942, those not working in what were considered vital industries were among the first killed or deported to killing centers. Benjamin's mother was machine-gunned to death in a hospital with other elderly patients, and Gucia and her daughter, Ruth, were deported.

In the spring of 1942, Gucia and 4-year-old Ruth were killed in a killing center in eastern Poland.

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