obituaries
A New Life In America
E
dith Blumberg Kuschner, 106, of
West Bloomfield, died Sept. 24,
2013.
Born in Keidan, Lithuania, to a promi-
nent, educated, Jewishly observant family,
Edith enjoyed a happy childhood and the
warmth of a close family.
She acquired a love of learning, music
and the arts at an early age, interests
which she retained throughout her life
and passed on to her children. She also
completed three years of college, a rare
accomplishment for women at that time.
As life in Czarist Russia continued to
deteriorate for the Jews between 1914 and
1917, Edith's family fled deep into Russia
to find safer haven. This coincided with
the start of World War I and Germany
blaming the Jews for its defeat.
Edith, a beauty by all standards, mar-
ried Isaac in 1932. He was born in Rega,
Latvia, and had suffered his own hard-
ships: poverty, the loss of his father, an
esteemed rabbi, and survival in a Russian
POW camp. From the age of 14, Isaac
supported his mother and himself. He
went on to obtain an extensive education
in medicine, chemistry and, as an adult,
spoke 10 languages.
Edith and Isaac became a struggling
In time, they shared the joys of
Harriet's marriage to William Rosenberg,
young couple in Vienna, Austria, where
Isaac had studied and eventually opened a
the young couple's move to Michigan and
the arrival of three wonderful grandchil-
medical practice, while Edith mastered the
dren, Seth, Loren and Gabrielle.
German language and adjusted to a new
culture that was reserved toward Jews.
About the United States, especially New
It was the beginning of the Holocaust
York, Edith had written: "After surviv-
and Germany's "Final Solution7 In 1936,
ing Hitler's atrocities and being rejected
Vienna became very danger-
by all countries because of our
ous; and Edith, whose beautiful
Judaism, New York gave me the
blond hair and blue eyes gave
best years of my life. It gave me
her an Aryan appearance, was
back my dignity, a new start in
life, a new home, a new family7
finally able to obtain the neces-
sary papers to leave Austria.
It was there in 1939, after
After 12 months of terror, hid-
years of hiding and then finding
ing and uncertainty, Edith and
freedom, that Edith and Isaac
Isaac obtained passage to the
learned of the terrible suffering
United States arriving in 1939
-- J
and brutal murders of their fam-
Edith Kusc hner
with only $25.
ilies at the hands of the Nazis.
Despite the hardships, Edith
Success in New York
always retained her faith in humanity and
Here, they faced all the challenges of a
chose to view life as "the glass half full."
new immigrant life: learning a new lan-
She has passed on her love, wisdom, spiri-
guage, starting a new medical practice
tual strength and optimism to her children
and Edith working long hours in a feather and grandchildren and continued to value
factory to help make ends meet. Finally,
life's most precious gifts — freedom, family
with their American citizenship in hand,
and friends — until her very last moments.
they started their own family and had two
In 1981, Isaac became ill, resulting in
children, Harriet and Charles.
the move to Michigan to be closer to fam-
ily support, the children and grandchil-
dren. Despite Isaac's illness, Edith expe-
rienced the joys and accomplishments of
her two children, three grandchildren and
four great-grandchildren.
Edith has truly been an inspiration to
all who have known her and a shining
example of the best of humanity.
Mrs. Kuschner is survived by her
daughter, Harriet, and her husband,
Richard;, son, Charles, and grandson,
Seth, who live in Michigan; her grand-
daughter, Gabrielle, husband, Todd, and
their children, Zoe and Jordan, who live
in Atlanta; her grandson, Loren, father
of Lucie and Ava, and their mother,
Samantha, who live in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Mrs. Kuschner also cared very much
about the children of Richard Cooper:
daughter, Kelly; son, Eric; his wife, Sue; and
their children, Gillian, Meghan and Sarah.
She is also survived by William Rosenberg
and his wife, Pam, and her family.
Interment was at Beth El Memorial
Park. Contributions may be made to
JARC, Community Living Centers or
the Program for Holocaust Survivors
and families at Jewish Senior Life.
Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.
❑
PESACH ROSEN, 91, of
Yad Vashem Scholar
Jerusalem/JTA
y
ad Vashem is saddened by
the death of Professor Israel
Gutman, a survivor of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Auschwitz
who was a leading and trailblazing histo-
rian of the Holocaust
in Israel and abroad.
Professor Gutman
died Oct. 1, 2013, in
Jerusalem at age 90.
Professor Gutman
was among the
founders of the Yad
Vashem International
Institute for Holocaust
Research, and lived in
Jerusalem. A widower, Israel Gutman
he is survived by two
daughters and three grandchildren. He
was buried in Jerusalem.
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev
said: "Professor Gutman's personal
resume — as someone who experienced
in the flesh the horrors of the Holocaust,
fought in the Warsaw Ghetto, was impris-
oned in Auschwitz and was a member of
the camp's Jewish underground, survived
the death marches and was a witness
to all that occurred — added an enor-
mous weight to his rare and exceptional
strength as a researcher, teacher and
leader. We will miss his insight and his
friendship."
Israel Gutman was born in Warsaw in
1923. His parents and older sister died
in the ghetto, and his younger sister was
a member of Janusz
Korczak's orphanage.
As a member of the
Jewish underground
in the Warsaw ghetto,
he was wounded in the
uprising.
From Warsaw
he was taken to
Majdanek, and from
there to Auschwitz. In
May 1945, he was sent
on the death march to
Mauthausen. He spent two years in the
camps.
After the war, he helped in the reha-
bilitation of survivors, was active in the
Bericha movement and immigrated to
Eretz Israel in 1946. He joined Kibbutz
Lehavot Habashan where he raised a
family and was a member of the kibbutz
for 25 years. In 1961, he gave testimony
during the Eichmann trial.
In 1973, Professor Gutman moved to
Jerusalem, and in 1975 received his Ph.D.
from the Hebrew University for his thesis,
"The Resistance Movement and the Armed
Uprising of the Jews of Warsaw In the
Context of Life in the Ghetto, 1939-19437
Beginning his academic career at the
Hebrew University, he later headed Hebrew
University of Jerusalem's Department for
the Study of Contemporary Jewry (1983-
1986). He was a visiting professor at UCLA
in 1980-1981. He retired from Hebrew
University in 1993.
At the same time, Gutman was a leader
and an integral part of the research activ-
ities at Yad Vashem. From 1993-1996,
he headed the International Institute for
Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, of
which he was a founder. Between 1996-
2000, he served as Yad Vashem's chief
historian.
One of his main projects was the
comprehensive and groundbreaking
Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. He pub-
lished many works on the Holocaust,
including The Jews of Poland Between
Two World Wars; Unequal Victims: Poles
and Jews During World War Two; The
Jews of Warsaw, 1939-1943; Resistance:
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; Anatomy
of the Auschwitz Death Camp; and Nazi
Europe and the Final Solution.
❑
West Bloomfield, died
Sept. 26, 2013.
Pesach Rosen is sur-
vived by his wife of 63
years, Doris Rosen; son
and daughter-in-law,
Nathan and Perri Rosen
of West Bloomfield;
Pesach Rosen
daughters and son-in-law,
Dahlia Berkovitz and her
partner, Larry Gunsberg, of West Bloomfield,
Orit and Avi Yazdi of West Bloomfield;
grandchildren, An and Bashi Rosen, Zachary
Rosen, Emily Rosen, Limor and Richard
Hendricks, Ron and Lily Berkovitz, Eli
Yazdi and Dana Yazdi; great-grandchildren,
Shifra Rosen, Eliyahu Rosen, Chaim Rosen,
Charlotte Hendricks, Penelope Hendricks
and Riley Berkovitz; sister, Ann Newman
(the late Rudy Newman); brother and sister-
in-law, Itzchak and Mira Rosen.
He was the devoted son of the late
Aharon Eliezer Rosen and the late Risha
Gitla Rosen.
Interment was at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Contributions may be made
to Lechi Museum, 8 Avraam Shtern St.,
Tel Aviv, Jaffo, Israel, www.ilmuseums.
corn; Friends of the Israel Defense Forces,
Michigan Chapter, P.O. Box 999, Walled
Lake, MI 48390, www.fidf.org ; or Jewish
Hospice & Chaplaincy Network, 6555 W.
Maple, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, www.
jewishhospice.org. Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
Obituaries on page 58
Obituaries
JN
October 3 • 2013
57