Gena Turgel (née Goldfinger; 1 February 1923 – 7 June 2018) was a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

author, educator, and

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

Early life and the Holocaust

Turgel was born in Kraków in 1923, the youngest of nine children of Samuel and Estera Goldfinger. Genzlinger, Neil (13 June 2018).
Gena Turgel, Holocaust Survivor With a Love Story, Dies at 95
. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. nytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-06-15. Print version, 14 June 2018, p. B15. Her parents ran a small textile business. After the death of her father, during her childhood, her mother carried on the family business. When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

invaded Poland in 1939, her family was ordered to give up all their belongings. Turgel, several siblings and her mother were forced to move to the

Kraków ghetto The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major metropolitan Nazi ghettos created by Germany in the new General Government territory during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It was established for the purpose of exploitation, terror, and ...

in August 1941. Her brother Willek was shot and killed by the SS through the window of their home while he stood on a chair beside the window to reach a suitcase on top of a wardrobe. Another brother, Janek, escaped and Turgel never saw him after that. On March 1, 1942, Gena, her mother, and her sisters Miriam and Hela were sent to the

Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp , known for = , location = , coordinates = , built by = , operated by = Nazi Germany , commandant = Amon Göth (until September 1944)Arnold Büscher (September 1944 – January 1945) ...

. Turgel's sister Miriam and her husband were shot after being caught trying to smuggle food into the camp. Gena, Estela, and Hela were then part of the last forced march from Płaszów to

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

in December 1944. Months later she was part of the "

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convent ...

" to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

before finally being sent to the Bergen-Belsen camp. She survived the bombing of Poland and the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

, where she nursed a dying

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

Personal life

She married a British soldier, Norman Turgel, after the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

of Bergen-Belsen and the British press called her "the Bride of Belsen." The ceremony was officiated by

ish

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

Padre Capt. Leslie Henry Hardman Her

wedding dress A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo-Sa ...

, made from a British army

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

, is an exhibit in the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London. Norman held a party to celebrate his engagement to Gena at Belsen having been granted permission to do so by Major Leonard Berney, the commander of the

Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp was a displaced persons (DP) camp for refugees after World War II, in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. It was in operation from the summer of 1945 until Septem ...

(as it was then called). Her memoir, ''I Light a Candle'', was published in 1987. She spent much of her life educating British school pupils about the Holocaust. The story of Gena: the autobiography of a woman whose strength of spirit allowed her to save herself and her mother from death. And thereby save yourself. But Gena still lights a candle in memory of her three brothers and two sisters who died in the Holocaust. And although her story has a happy ending, she will never forget.https://krakowchanka.eu/uk/eternal/zhinka-shho-perezhyla-gazovu-kameru-3-konczentraczijni-tabory-i-stala-nathnennykom-dlya-miljoniv-lyudej-gena-turgel

Death

She died on 7 June 2018, at the age of 95 in England. Upon news of her death, Britain's chief rabbi,

Ephraim Mirvis Rabbi Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis (born 7 September 1956) is an Orthodox rabbi who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1985 and 1992. Early life and ...

, called her a "truly remarkable Holocaust Survivor", and said, "Her legacy is our responsibility now."

References

External links

Wedding photo of Gena Goldfinger and Norman Turgel, taken at Bergen-Belsen
*
Gina and Pia Turgel, photo
may 1945, Jüdisches Museum Berlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Turgel, Gena 1923 births 2018 deaths Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp survivors Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Jewish Polish writers 20th-century Polish women writers 20th-century Polish Jews Kraków Ghetto inmates Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom