Edzia Abbe

1
Edzia Abbe Born - 1926 Died 1943?
Edzia, one of four children born to Carola and
Israel Abbe. She grew up in Lodz, Poland. When
the Germans occupied Lodz in September 1939,
Edzia was a thirteen year-old schoolgirl. On
February 8, 1940, Edzia and her family, along
with all of Lodz's Jews, were forced to live in a
run-down part of the city. On May 1, 1940, the
overcrowded ghetto was closed off. Living
conditions were horrendous. There was no heat,
little food or medicine, and inadequate
sanitation. People fell dead in the street from
starvation, disease and exposure. Still, the
basic appearance of normal inner-city life was
maintained. Edzia's older brother, Natan, was
shot in late 1940, by a German soldier at the
ghetto gate. He was sixteen years old. Her mother
died of starvation in early 1941. Fifteen
year-old Edzia was seized and sent to do forced
labor in a German-run textile factory in
Augsburg. Conditions there were horrible. There
was little food and the workers were constantly
tortured. In May 1943, the factory was evacuated.
The Jewish workers were sent to an unknown
destination and were never heard from again.
Edzia was seventeen years old.