SURVIVOR OF THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST IN WW2
Based upon the research of Prof Rob Franciosi - Allendale- Michigan. USA
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SAMUEL
GOLDSTEIN - WEST GREEN ROAD - TOTTENHAM
SURVIVOR OF THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST IN WW2 Based upon the research of Prof Rob Franciosi - Allendale- Michigan. USA |
| It was in
July 1939 and just weeks before the war started that a young Jewish man
named Samuel Goldstein escaped to England. He was waiting at a Berlin
railway station that would take him to Brussels, where he would board a
boat to England and to freedom. He would live alone in the Tottenham
area for
the next thirty-three years. In October 1941 his mother, Frieda
Goldstein, was deported from Berlin to the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, The
following May, her life ended in a gas van at the Chelmo extermination
camp. The very ordinariness of Frieda Goldstein’s 71 years is most compelling. She was born in 1871 in the Polish town of Oświęcim—overshadowed today by its German name: Auschwitz. The mother of five children, two boys and three girls, she and her family moved to Berlin in 1920, where her husband, Hirsch Braun, assumed a position as a religious teacher.. After her son’s birth in 1902, and her later move to Berlin, she had worked as a seamstress for thirty-nine years. Samuel became a skilled dentist, and they shared an apartment at 19 Fehrbelliner until the summer of 1939, when the fates of this Jewish mother and son diverged. Like his four siblings, Samuel managed to escape from Nazi Germany and from the fate which it had in store for his mother. We are indebted to Professor Rob Franciosi, who is professor of English at Grand Valley State University located in Michigan, USA, who has kindly shared much of his research information with me. I have been able to help provide additional information on the local Tottenham aspects of his research. |
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OSWIECIM POLAND - (Renamed Auschwitz) |
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| This map shows
the location of
Oświęcim between Katowice and Krakow in Poland where both Frieda
Goldstein and her son Samuel were born. By fateful coincidence,
following the occupation of the Germans in WW2 , the town was to be
renamed Auschwitz by the Nazi regime. The pictures below show some of
the horrors that were later introduced by the Germans for their
'Final Solution' !. |
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BERLIN - PRE-WAR HOME - FRIEDA AND SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN |
 PRE-WAR - BERLIN CENSUS RECORD - FRIEDA & SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN - 19 FEHRBELLINER STRASSE |
| Sadly in October 1941 Frieda Goldstein was rounded up, along with many other Jewish people, and deported from Berlin. They were boarded upon trains departing from Grunewald Station where today a monument marks the spot where they were boarded from platform 17. Frieda was deported to the town of Lodz in Poland. | ||
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 STAIRS TO PLATFORM 17 |
 PLATFORM 17 MARKER FOR DEPARTING JEWS |
| SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN'S PRE-WAR PASSPORT Amazingly, Rob Franciosi has obtained a copy of Samuel's passport from before the war. It’s nice to be able to put a face to his name but the image of the rubber stamp with the Swastika emblem on it brings home the horror that he and his family members were later to endure. |
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KITCHENER CAMP - RICHBOROUGH NR SANDWICH KENT |
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| On his arrival in England Samuel found refuge in
Kitchener Camp on the Kentish coast. Similar to the better-known
‘Kindertransport’, which rescued some 10,000 children, Kitchener became
a haven for young Jewish men from Germany and Austria, sheltering 4000
young professionals. The document below shows the registration report
for Samuel Goldstein at Kitchener Camp dated 13th July 1939.
Kitchener Camp was located at Richborough near Sandwich in Kent.
On the second page it refers to him being assigned to work at a Denture
Repair Laboratories. |
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| SAMUEL DAVID GOLDSTEIN- NATURALISATION - OATH OF ALLEGIANCE | |
| Following his release from Kitchener Camp a little later in the war, Samuel was to live briefly at two other addresses in Stamford Hill: 88 Amhurst Park, London N16 and 2 Linthorpe Rd, Stamford Hill, N16, respectively where he applied for and received his 'Naturalization Certificate', and also swore an 'Oath of Allegiance' to the United Kingdom. | |
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SAMUEL (SAMMY) GOLDSTEIN - WEST GREEN ROAD TOTTENHAM |
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Shortly after the war Samuel moved to
West Green Road, Tottenham, where he was to spend the rest of his life.
According to his death certificate, David Samuel Goldstein lived at 35
West Green Road, Tottenham where he also worked as a dental mechanic. |
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 THIS OLD MAP DATING FROM 1936 SHOWS THE LOCATION OF SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN'S PREMISES AT 35 WEST GREEN ROAD. IT HAS BEEN ANNOTATED IN 'RED' ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF WEST GREEN ROAD BETWEEN WESTERFIELD ROAD AND THE OLD STATION ENTRANCE. |
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 WEST GREEN ROAD 1953 - SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN'S SHOP HAS ALSO BEEN ANNOTATED IN RED |
 WEST GREEN ROAD 2022 - LOCATION OF 35 WEST GREEN ROAD IMAGE BY GOOGLE MAPS |
 FORMER ENTRANCE TO SEVEN SISTERS STATION JUST YARDS FROM 35 WEST GREEN ROAD |
 FORMER ENTRANCE TO SEVEN SISTERS STATION LOOKING WEST TOWARDS BRUNSWICK ROAD |
 THE ABOVE EXTRACT SHOWS THE ENTRY FOR SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN IN THE 1965 ELECTORAL ROLL FOR WEST GREEN ROAD THIS WAS THE LAST ELECTORAL ROLL ENTRY FOUND BUT WE HAVE OTHERS DATING FROM THE EARLY 1950'S |
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DEATH CERTIFICATE - (DANIEL) SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN - QTR 1 1972 |
| MEMORIES OF SAMUEL (SAMMY) GOLDSTEIN BY DAVID WATKINSON |
| Just an update
on this Hidden History story. I had posted a message on several of
the Tottenham 'Local History' Facebook pages and I was delighted when I
received a wonderful message from a gentleman who in his youth worked
casually for Samuel Goldstein in West Green Road. He tells me that he
was always known as 'Sammy' in the immediate neighbourhood and was well
liked and respected by everyone. Apparently, in addition to the shop in
West Green Road, 'Sammy' also had shops in Stamford Hill, Harringay and
Ilford. He employed a small number of people in these shops and looked
after them well. My contact tells me that on his birthday Sammy would
buy him an LP record. He also tells me that Sammy's flat above the shop
was quite opulent for the day and a picture, which he believes could
have been his mother, was displayed in a prominent position. One other
wonderful memory he had was that Sammy would give quite a large discount
on repairs carried out for West Indian and other immigrants and, having
now read this story, it is obvious why he did so |
| THE STOLPERSTEINE PROJECT | |
Here is the backgound to
his Project in the words of Rob Franciosi  |
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 PREVIEW OF PROBABLE WORDING FOR FRIEDA AND SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN |
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upon his archival research, correspondence, and upcoming visits to
relevant localities, his Stumbling Upon Strangers will follow a
micro-historical path to distinguish the individual stories of Frieda
and Samuel Goldstein. Next month he will be visiting both Berlin and
London to retrace the journeys the victims once trod. Later this year two stolpersteine for Frieda and Samuel Goldstein will be installed outside 19 Fehrbelliner Strasse in Berlin. They will join other small brass markers, or “stumbling stones,” set in sidewalks outside the last residences of Nazi victims to commemorate their lives and fates. |
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| PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING 19 FEHRBELLINER STRASSE |
| My Grandson James currently lives and works in Berlin, not far from this address, and also within walking distance of the station in Berlin from where Frieda Goldstein was deported, He has kindly sent me 3 photographs showing the address as it looks today. Clearly the original buildings have long been demolished and replaced with more modern structures. |
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DEDICATION OF STOLPERSTEIN PLAQUES Since the above photographs were taken the plaques have now been inserted in the pavement outside the location of the Goldstein's former home at 19 Fehrbelliner Strasse, Berlin Photographs courtesy of Rob Franciosi |
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We hope you agree that this has been a truly fascinating story about a
humble and lonely man and the atrocities that befell him and his family
during WW2. |
| POST SCRIPT
- OTTAWA CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 2022 OPENING WORDS BY PROF ROB FRANCIOSI |
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Opting to
Affiliate with Atrocity Project Summary:
Stumbling Upon Strangers: A Post-Holocaust Memoir Rob Franciosi
On September 9,
2022, two stolpersteine
were installed outside 19
Fehrbellinerstrasse in Berlin. These small brass markers, or “stumbling
stones,” are set in sidewalks outside the last residences of Nazi
victims, commemorating both their lives and fates. Conceived by artist
Gunter Demnig, the project has spread to twenty-four countries and
includes over 80,000 stolpersteine. During a trip to Germany in
2012 my students and I were so moved by these markers that we decided to
sponsor one for a Jewish victim who had lived near our Rosenthaler Platz
hostel. That’s how my discovery of and journey with Frieda Goldstein and
her son Samuel began.
Using the 2022 installation as a narrative launch, I am writing a memoir
that will engage the memorial process behind these two commemorative
markers and chart the different destinies of mother and son. Just weeks
before the war began in 1939, Samuel managed to escape to England, where
he would live alone for the next thirty-three years. His mother was
deported from Berlin in October of 1941, and her life ended on May 15,
1942, in the gas vans at the Chełmno extermination camp.
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Article prepared by Alan Swain - September 2022
We are indebted to Prof Franciosi for sharing his research information with us along with photographs.
We acknowledge the use of selected extracts from his report and subsequent emails to help build this story.
Post Script -Ottawa Conference - Added December 2022
