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She often spoke about her experiences during the Holocaust and was recently featured in the book 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz (2019). Edith passed away in 2020.
- Introduction
- Rivka and Mordechai Gimpel Meet: 1904
- Family Life in Mád: 1904–1941
- Family Members
- Activities
- Shabbat, Holidays, and Our Beautiful Synagogue
- Traditions
- Signs of Antisemitism: 1938–1944
- Ghetto: April to May 1944
- Train to Auschwitz: Late May 1944
Rivka (Hungarian: Regina) née Kleinman Grossman and Mordechai Gimpel (Hungarian: Geza) Grossman were our parents. Our family lived in the bucolic village of Mád (pronounced “Mahd"), about 100 kilometers north of Debrecen, in the northeast part of Hungary, in the wine country near the Carpathian Mountains. This narrative is told primarily from the p...
This is the story of how our parents met. Our mother was going to school in Vienna. On a train she met an older woman, who happened to be the mother of Mordechai. Mrs. Grossman came home and told her son, “If you would go around the world, you would never find a girl like Regina Kleinman!” Both of our parents were very well-educated—in addition to ...
Mád had a lovely Jewish community, near the Carpathian Mountains. Before the war, there were 800 Jewish people in Mád, out of a total population of about 5,000. The town is about 44 km from Miskolc, the closest “big city.” Mád is only 17 km from Tokaj, in the center of the Tokaj wine country. Some people in the town had vineyards, others were wheat...
There were seven children—six girls and one boy. Barbara (Borishka), the oldest girl, brother Berel (Barry, Dov), Iren (Irene, Goldie, Goldika), and Bina (Berta) were each born a year apart, from 1909 through 1912. A baby was born in 1915 but died shortly after. Anna (Chana, Chanuka) was born in 1916. After this, there was a gap of several years wh...
Rivka taught all of her daughters how to sew when they were very young. She would say that every woman must know how to sew, so that she would be able to make little dresses for her own daughters. On Saturday nights, we stayed up all night sewing, finishing off the clothing that our non-Jewish clients would wear to church on Sunday morning. Mordech...
Shabbat in our home was beautiful. Our father used to sit with the children and read to us from the Tanach (Old Testament). He went to shul every day. Our mother went for Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the new month) and Rosh Hashana (the New Year). Girls didn't really go to shul in those days, other than to visit their parents. Even the non-religi...
Hungarian Jews, including the Grossman family, had interesting traditions and customs. After Havdalah (the ceremony ending Shabbat), Rivka would go to the stream behind the Grossman home get a fresh bucket of water. Everyone in the family had to drink from this water, which they called Miriam Vasser, Yiddish for "Water of Miriam." This custom is ba...
Our first awareness that something was wrong: when they threw down our friend's father, and broke his back. Our father was beaten. It was a case of mistaken identity—there was another man named Grossman, who was very rich and had fired someone. Our father almost died from this attack but he survived. It was scary to go out alone at night—they could...
The next thing we knew, we were told to each pack 25 pounds in a knapsack and leave. We wore many layers of clothing. There was no time to pack away the Pesach dishes—everything was just left on the tables. We were taken to city hall, then to the shul, where we stayed for about two days. Our next door neighbor brought food to us while we were in th...
We were told that we were being transported to Kenya, Bolivia, or Madagascar. But when we saw the big cattle cars, we realized that wasn't true. In Esther's voice: Our mother and four sisters got into the car first, they went to the corner. Our father, grandmother, and I were in the middle of the car. We couldn't get to our mother who was in the co...
Apr 29, 2022 · There are 275,000 Holocaust survivors still living today. Their numbers are dwindling, yet at 93, Edith Gross is tireless in her mission. "They took away licenses from all Jews.
- CBS News New York
- Carolyn Gusoff
- 2 min
Jan 27, 2020 · Edith Grosman was on the first official transport of Jewish people to Auschwitz, in March, 1942. (Padraig Moran/CBC) Read Story Transcript. A 95-year-old Toronto woman believes she survived...
- 5 min
Edith Marion Grossman (née Dorph; March 22, 1936 – September 4, 2023) was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa , Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez , Mayra Montero , Augusto Monterroso , Jaime ...
Jan 27, 2020 · As world leaders gather in Poland Monday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi-run Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland, Edith Friedman Grosman will be far away in...
Apr 16, 2023 · CNN's Dana Bash talks to Holocaust survivor Edith Gross about her memories at Auschwitz and a forced labor camp, and the message she would like to share.
- 5 min
