Günter Edelstein

Günther Edelstein was born on 3 June 1926, the third child of Abraham and Bertha Edelstein, in Berlin. His parents, both devout Jews, had emigrated a few years earlier from Poland to the German Reich. When Günther was eight years old, his mother Bertha gave birth to a fourth child, Erna, on 7 March 1935. At that time, the Nazis had already been in power for two years. Günther’s elder siblings Rosa and Benno, born 1919 and 1921 respectively, managed to emigrate and so survived the holocaust.

In 1938 the four members of the Edelstein family remaining in Berlin moved into a 1½ room apartment on the 3rd floor of the courtyard building at Oranien Strasse 198 in Kreuzberg. It is not known when Günther Edelstein was first made to perform forced labour. At the time of his deportation he was only sixteen and worked as a forced labourer for the Reich German association for the blind. He and his father Abraham, who also performed forced labour, supported the family.

Günther Edelstein was probably arrested at his place of work in late February 1943 during the Nazis’ “factory campaign”. On 2 March 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz on the 32nd “transport to the East”. His mother Bertha, his father Abraham and his little sister Erna were sent there a day later. It is not known whether Günther saw them again after his arrest, in the assembly camp in Berlin or in the extermination camp. None of the deported members of the Edelstein family survived the camp. Günther Edelstein’s exact date of death is not known.