Amalie Goldstein
"Learn everything you can about the Holocaust and be alert about what's going on in the world."
Name at birth
Amalie Goldstrom
Date of birth
11/07/1913
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Stettin, Germany
Name of father, occupation
Julius Goldstrom,
Businessman
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Henrietta Slatov,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and eight children: Frieda, Erna, Mehta, Lotta, Elie, Arthur, Herman, Amalie
Who survived the Holocaust?
Erna, Frieda, Herman, Arthur, Mehta, Elie, Amalie
My father had a business, like a general store near the church in our town. We all worked helping out.
I was blond and had blue eyes, and could go anywhere because I looked like a German. The Nazis didn’t bother me; they didn’t know I was Jewish.
We had nothing; the Nazis took all of our money. The Gestapo killed my father. My mother was sick but there were no doctors to help her and she passed away. The Gestapo killed the Jews, including my father, my brother and my sister.
I was married. In 1938, my husband and I and our two young daughters, Ruth and Miryam; my sister Erna and her husband, left Germany by ship. We were bound for America. However, during the voyage, we were informed that the quota for refugees to America was full!
HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, helped us to come to Colombia, the only country that would take us in. We lived in Bogotá, Columbia from 1938 to 1955. My husband was a glazier; he installed windows in businesses and residences.
When did you come to the United States?
In 1955 we moved from Bogotá to Detroit. I saw a German language newspaper, Aufbau that listed refugees looking for other refugees. I recognized my neighbor in Germany who was living in Detroit, the Zydower family. I wrote to them if they would initially take my two daughters before we would arrive. They agreed. We had two teenage daughters; we wanted to leave Bogotá because the intermarriage rate was so high there.
Spouse
Max Goldstein,
Installed windows
Children
Ruth, Miryam, and Judith (deceased)
Grandchildren
Nine: Sandy, Sam, Nelson, Becky, Laurie, Janet, Barbara, Howard, Rochelle Fourteen Great Grandchildren
What do you think helped you to survive?
My husband had a good job in Bogotá
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Learn everything you can about the Holocaust and be alert about what's going on in the world.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
03/15/2012
