Ida Braunstein
RelatioNetILME36WAPO
Date June 7th, 2019
Interviewers: Romy Sabbah and Noa Zwickel
romysabbah@gmail.com :noazwickel@gmail.com Email addresses
Surname Braunstein
First name Ida
Father’s name Meir
Mother’s name Ynetta
Sister’s name
Birth Date 25/12/1941
Town during the Holocaust :Bolivnika, Transnistria-Ukraine
Country of origin: Transnistria-Ukraine
Current address: Moran 1, Kefar Sava
Relationet Project 2019- Noa Zwickel & Romy Sabbah
Transistria – Ida's birthplace :
Transistria is a name given to a region in southwestern Ukraine, between the southern bug river and the Dniester river in the west' between the black sea coast in the south and a city called Mogilev Podolsk in the north during the second world war. Prior to the Second World War, this area was under the control of the Soviet Union.
The name Transtria was given by Adolf Hitler after having conquered it by the Germans and the Romanians from the hands of the Soviet Union. Transistria was given to the Romanians as a reward for Romania's contribution in the war against the Soviet Union.
Expulsion and Destruction of the Jews:
For centuries, this region was a center of spiritual Jewish culture of Jewish communities with a clear national identity. Thousands of members of that community were murdered by Einsatzgruppe under the command of Otto Ullendorf and by the German and Romanian armies in addition to the Jews who were deported to Transnistria from nearby areas and were murdered as well.
On September 15th, 1941 the Jews of Bessarabia and Bukovina were deported to Transistria under the commandof Romanian ruler- Marshal Ion Antonescu.
The number of Jews deported is approximately 150,000 to 185,000. The deportations ended on October 13th, 1942 with a change of direction in the war against the Soviet Union and when Antonescu was no longer certain of the victory of Germany.
Jews were denied the freedom of movement and correspondence and they were all concentrated in ghettos and camps where they were forced to work very hard and under terrible circumstances. In fact, Transistria had become one large concentration and labor camp.
Thousands of Jews were murdered and others died due to harsh living conditions, especially because of typhoid fever and dysentery in the concentration camps that were under the control of the gendarmerie.
Ida’s Story:
During the war
Ida ‘s parents Ynetta Goldberg Blanero, of Kastnitz, Russia and Meir Blanero, of Dorochoi Romania spent six months as a married couple in Bnovosoliza, Beserabia. Ynetta was sent to a concentration camp and Meir was arrested and sent to Sverdlovsk in Russia. Ida was born on December 25th 1941, during World War II in Bolivnika, a concentration camp in Transnistria in the Ukraine. As a result of their separation Meir didn't know he had had a daughter until after the war.
Ida was born in a pig sty. She said the cold was absolutely terrible and the Jews living among her in the camp kept telling her mother, Ynetta, that her child had no chance of surviving the cold without water. An old, religious Jewish man whom in the camp gave “Ida” her name . Ida's mother was considering different names for her newborn when the man came to her and told Ynetta 'Eed' meant Jewish in Yiddish and since her baby was a girl she should name her Ida. The people in the camp would all call her "the girl from Transnistria", in Yiddish, Ida's mother tongue.
As a baby, Ida would cry a lot, which terrified those in the camp. They were afraid that Nazis would find her and kill them all. Thus, her mother would take a piece of cloth, dip it in sugar and put in Ida's mouth to suck on so she'd be quiet. People kept telling Ynetta to dump Ida in the streets where a non Jewish person might pass by and take her with him out of pity. However, her mother never gave her up.
Bolivnika was controlled by the Nazis, who twice a week allowed Ynetta out of the camp to work because she knew how to sew. She used to leave with one of her siblings (Ida couldn’t remember which one in particular or Abraham or Gershon or Eli or Boris), and placed Ida under her shirt in order for her not to be seen. Ida recalled her mother being stressed and panicking every single time she went to work because there was a chance that someone could find out about her baby.
Ynetta never asked for money in exchange for the work she had done, just for food for her, her daughter, her siblings, for her mother Bela and for sick people in the camp that she used to take care of. The concentration camp was surrounded by barbed wire and there was a gate which the Nazis would open in order to let people go to work. The gate would close at a specific time and Ynetta had to be back beforehand.
Ida's uncle, Baruch (also known as Boris) Goldberg was transferred to Borsht seven months after their arrival to Bolivnika. Borsht was a camp where wells were dug in order for the dead to be thrown in. Bella, Ida's grandmother cried every day out of desperation, not knowing if she would ever see her son again.
The Nazis kept transferring Jews from concentration camp to concentration camp. Ynetta had to knock on doors to find a job. She was ready to take on any job, all she wanted was to find a place where Ida could be warm and fed. Many Jews in the camp lost their lives as a result of the cold. Others starved to death including the ones who didn't help Bela take care of Ida as Ynetta did not bring them food.
In 1942, Ida got sick and froze as a result of the cold. She was frostbitten. She turned blue and bald. She still has marks from that time on her body. Ida was sick for an entire year and didn’t stop crying so the people in the camp begged her mother to get rid of her. Later that year, Ida and Ynetta stumbled upon a good hearted non Jew who made them pig fat based oil and told Ynetta to spread it on Ida with cotton as medicine. Ida was sick for over a year and Ynetta and Bella her mother fought for her survival every single day. . Finally in 1943, Ida started to recover, her skin got better and hair started to grow back. As spring arrived, Ynetta used to leave Ida out in the sun so the marks that covered her body would disappear.
Ynetta breastfed Ida till the age of three. When the Nazis would come close to them, Ida's mother would put a blanket over her and breastfeed her so she would be quiet. Bella would look for potato and carrot peels in the garbage put all them in a pot and cook them so her family wouldn’t starve to death. They would knock on doors and beg for food. People exchanged expensive jewelry for a slice of bread or for some flour and potatoes. They didn’t have any water so they melted snow and drunk it instead
Around 1944, there were rumors among the Jews that the Russians were on their way to liberate them from the concentration camps. They could not wait for the day they would be told they were free. That same year,as the war came to an end, Bella, Ynetta and Ida were banished from the camp in Bolivnika. They didn’t know where to go, so they wandered barefoot from place to place. They had no way of knowing in which direction they were heading or which places they had passed through. They simply followed their intuition until they arrived in a small town named Novoslitza. There were ruins everywhere, structures missing windows and doors. Ida, her mother and her grandmother went into a small building occupied by other families and stayed in a small corner. Ida's mother found a big piece of wood, washed it and covered it with cloth so Ida could lie on it and rest a bit. They had absolutely nothing…
In the meantime, Russian troops wandered from place to place to make sure there weren’t any German troops in the area. Yenetta, who was left unemployed, with no way to care for her daughter and mother, decided to make potato latkes (potato pancakes) and sell them to the soldiers. The money she earned helped them survive and buy food and clothing during this horrible time. Ida was a very skinny and pale child. Her mother saved up some money and took her to see a doctor. The doctor said Ida was anemic and needed a more nutritious diet. Her mother tried as hard as she could but that was a very hard task under the circumstances.
Later that year in 1945, Ynetta found her husband's name on a list of Jewish survivors and contacted the group who had published the lists and asked how she could get in touch with him. Meir was informed that his wife and mother in law were still alive and that he had a daughter, Ida. He traveled all the way from Russia to Ynetta, Ida and Bella. Ynetta’s mother began preparing her. She told her that she would soon see her father and he would take care of them and provide for them. The concept of a father was foreign to her since she had grown up without one, so she was very confused. In 1945, when a letter arrived stating that Ynetta's husband was on his way, she sewed a dress from a white tablecloth and shoes for her daughter. They waited for him at the train station Ida dressed in the white clothes she had sewn for her. As people got off the train Ida's mother pointed her finger at a man and told her to run to him and tell him she was his daughter. Ida described that moment as a very meaningful encounter. Her father held her in his arms as her parents began to cry on one another's shoulders. Ida was a bit confused.
The relationship between Ida and her father could be described as somewhat distant. They weren’t able to bond with one another. He was a stranger to her. Years went by until Ida was able to bond with him. Her father was sick, his feet were swollen and sore and he had post trauma as a result of the war. He was in no shape to work so Ynetta was the one who provided for the family by working as a seamstress. There were many kindergartens with accommodations around where they lived, yet Ida's mother never sent her because she was too scared that someone would steal her. Ida had no toys and her mother forbade her to talk with strangers. Ida said they lived a very primitive life. They were refugees and constantly wandered from place to place hoping to find a home. Ida's father wanted them to live in Romania. He claimed he would feel more at home because he knew the language. They then found out that one of Ynetta's siblings, Eli lived in a Jewish community Transylvania. They him and went to meet him and his bride. Eli and Meir started working together, selling apples to rich people on a trolley. Ida's uncle and aunt wanted to move to Israel and had already filled out all the paperwork. They wanted to take Bella along, however, couldn’t because she wasn’t granted an immigration permit. After Eli and his wife left Ida and her family moved to Bucharest. However, Meir wasn’t able to find a job so they decided to move to his birthplace, Dorohoy, Romania.
They lived in a small apartment . Her mother began working as a seamstress and sole supporter of the family. In 1946, Ynetta gave birth to Ida's younger sister so they needed a bigger apartment. In the meantime, Bella got permission to move to Israel and lived with Eli and his wife in Herzliya in 1947. In 1958, when Ida was seventeen years old, she moved to Israel along with her parents and sister.
Right after, Ida and her family made Kefar Sava their home, her younger sister began to attend Brenner Elementary school and went on to study in Beit Berl. However, Ida had never attended school; which she regrets till this day.
At first Ida's father worked as a farmer in the fields. But, because his job was seasonal, he soon found himself unemployed. Ynetta had no job either thus she began doing agricultural work which was very hard for her. Her body suffered unbearable strain. She was red from the heat. They didn’t want her to continue working under those conditions. That was when Ida entered the picture. She also began working as a lunch lady in an institution for children with minor mental issues. Ida would work over 10 hour shifts for one lira per hour. The head of the dining room used to live in Kefar Sava too, so he took her to work every morning. Despite all the hard work, she really enjoyed working in that institution where she was ecstatic about helping those children. In addition to working with the Chef, Ida used to teach the children table manners, how to use a fork, spoon and knife. She truly loved them and could not help wondering if after all the diseases she had caught during the time she had spent in the concentration camp would result in her having mentally challenged children. She wanted to study how to treat children with mental issues but it didn’t work out because the institution moved to the south and she lost her job because of the distance. She worked at any job that came her way. Meanwhile Ida's father had got a job in a factory called “Alber”, where he worked for 25 years until his pension. As money began flowing into their bank accounts, Ynetta and Ida began to make their home more welcoming.
Ida found a job in Gan Haim, which was very difficult. She would pack all the oranges and put them in a box, which she then had to pick up on to the table. A young man that worked with her used to help her with the work and translate anything she didn't understand in Hebrew. He had also come from Romania years before. There were other Romanian immigrants there who they used to go out with. One day the young man, Reuben Brownstein, asked her to marry him. Obviously she was dumbfounded. She wanted to travel all over Israel, go to new places and to meet new people. She said she had to ask her parents first who rejoiced that he too had come from Romania. It was very important to them that their daughter marry a guy who shared the same roots. Ida invited Reuben for dinner to meet her parents, who fell in love with him instantly. They referred to him as an angel sent from heaven. Reuben told little about his family. His brother came to Israel before the war began, with a youth group, while Reuben and his parents stayed in Romania. His brother fought in one of the wars and was killed in Kalkilia. His parents, who wanted to come to Israel, did not know their son had been killed but Reuben did. He decided that if he told them they might not want to come to Israel and so he kept quiet.
Ida was 18 when she first met Reuben's parents who were glad to finally meet her. When he told them that the two were getting married, they were shocked because Ida was very young, naive, and they barely knew her. They were happy that they spoke the same language as she did and had an engagement party for their son and fiancé.
Right after Reuben and Ida got engaged, they rented an apartment in Kefar Sava on Pinsker Street and got married in 1959. They continued working in the same place in Gan Haim, where he worked full time and she worked when they needed more staff.
Meanwhile Ida became pregnant with Ariela, her eldest daughter after Reuben's brother- Arie. In the middle of the pregnancy she completely stopped working as she could not pick up heavy boxes. Therefore, Reuben began working double shifts, they made it through. In order to make extra money, they decided to open a vegetable shop, and Ariela was able to go to a private kindergarten. When she was five years old, Ida's son was born. She brought both of them up while still working in the shop. The neighbors respected her for the fact that even though she was in the midst of raising two children, she continued working. Reuben and Ida worked very hard. After work she'd go back home and begin cleaning the house. They were on very good terms with their neighbors. They all were just like one big family. On certain occasions they would have dinner with everyone in the building, every family made something and got together and to eat. They also had good friends who also came from Romania who they would go to the beach with in a truck. They felt they were living a good life.
During the six day war, they still lived on the same street and dug bunkers so they'd have a place to hide. After the war, they moved to a more spacious apartment, on Geula Street. They were still young energetic and had more money. Ida, Reuben and their children used to spend every single holiday with her and Reuben’s parents, Ida's sister and anyone who cared to join. Ida never enjoyed going out to hotels to have the holiday-"there is a certain intimacy at home that you can’t find anywhere else" she said. She loved having people over at her house, she always says “If there is room in the heart, there is room at home”.
Some final thoughts:
At some point in Ida's life, when she had three children, she wanted to go to nursing school. Her sister also wanted to become a nurse, thus they drove together to Tel Hashomer to see what the qualifications were. When Ida told her husband, he didn’t accept it. He thought that being a nurse was a difficult job, filled with morning and evening shifts, and it would be extremely hard with three little children. She accepted that, and gave up on her dream. She loves helping people and taking care of them. But till this day she regrets letting go of her dream.
Ida has three children, which were all in the army!
The three of them served the country with dignity, and she is very proud of them.
