The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death Holocaust Martyrs' and
Heroes' Remembrance Day 2006 Ester Burstein (Lipscyz) Born in
Lodz in 1923, Ester came from a long line of rabbis on her
mother’s side. Her father, too, was a rabbi. Ester had two
younger sisters. In September 1939, the Germans came to the
family’s home and plundered its valuables. A week later,
Esther’s grandfather was ordered to appear at the German
headquarters and provide them with the number of Jews living in
the town. When the family were moved to the ghetto in March
1940, Ester smuggled in a copy of the Prophets and Writings,
written on parchment, hidden inside a baby’s pram. She and her
sisters worked in a handicrafts factory, and their father served
as a rabbi. In September 1942, Ester’s father was deported and
killed in the Chelmno death camp. Her mother died in the ghetto
a year later, leaving Ester responsible for four young girls
(her two sisters and two cousins). In 1944, they were sent to
Auschwitz. After surviving several selection