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Mother's Day

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With an ad in The Jewish News featuring
a personal note to your mom!

Ad Deadline Date: May 4th, 2012 • Issue Date: May 10th, 2012

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Amalie Goldstein with 11 of her 16 great-grandchildren.

A Strong Woman

Amalie Goldstein is a true survivor.

Sue Pearl
Special to the Jewish News

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12

April 19 @ 2012

iN

A

malie Goldstein smiles as
she glances up from the •
chair in her apartment
where she has been sitting and knit-
ting. She happily agrees to be inter-
viewed, but first wants to clarify
something before we can begin. "I
don't look like I used to. I am very
old." All I can say is that if and when
I reach her milestone age of 98, I
should only look as good as she
does.
Amalie has lived at Fleishman
Residence in West Bloomfield for
almost a year now and loves the
activities and friendships she has
made. Life, however, has not always
been so easy for her. She has had to
overcome a great deal of heartache
and sadness using the strength and
determination that she still pos-
sesses today.
Amalie was born in Berlin,
Germany, on Nov. 7, 1913. "I grew
up in a wealthy, happy family:'
said Amalie, who was the young-
est of eight children. "My mother
passed away when I was quite young
though, leaving my brothers and sis-
ters to help raise me. We were doing
just fine until Hitler and the Nazis
took over. They took away every-
thing that we had.
"I married my husband, Max,
when I was 19 years old. We never
really had a wedding party, just a
small lunch that my sister made for
us. I feared for my husband's life
every day when he left for work. I
was so afraid that he would be cap-
tured by the Nazis."
Amalie had three daughters — the
first two born in Berlin. "I was very
lucky that I looked German with my
blonde hair and blue eyes because
otherwise I would never have been
able to take my two babies to the

park every day as I did:' said Amalie,
who knew that if she had looked
Jewish, she would have been killed.
"The situation in Germany kept
getting worse, so we knew we had
to get out of the country in order
to get away from Hitler. I am sad to
say that I lost all my family to Hitler
except for my one brother and one
sister!"

Escape to Colombia
"We were lucky because my hus-
band was a glazier [a person who
cuts glass and fits it into doors and
windows]. His profession was very
much sought-after, especially in
South America. In 1938, the Jewish
Federation paid for us to take the
last boat leaving for Colombia. We
left with $5 in our pocket!'
It took the family 12 days to travel
by boat from Germany to South
America. "I cried all day and night:'
said Amalie, who was separated
from her husband and her babies
for most of the trip. "I was seasick
for the whole time. All we had to eat
were bananas — cooked bananas,
baked bananas and any other way
they could be prepared. Till this day,
I never eat bananas!"
When Amalie's family first arrived
in Colombia, they settled in Bogota
where they lived together in one
room. "I cooked, cleaned and washed
clothes in that one room:' remem-
bered Amalie, who also delivered her
third baby with a midwife in those
same cramped quarters.
After Amalie's husband finally
started to make some money, the
family was able to move to a nice
apartment and send their children
to a good school. There were no
Jewish schools in Colombia so they
decided to send their daughters to
a Catholic school where the girls
would get the best education avail-
able.

