Lauren Bergman

Edzia Littmann, 2020

Oil on cradled panel

40 x 30 in.

Ella Milch-Sheriff

Edzia Littmann

Musical composition

Edzia Littman with her older brother, aunt, and cousin, 1936/1937

Reproduction of a gelatin silver print

Collection of George and Phyllis Lee

Edzia was born in 1926 in Drohobycz, Poland. When the Germans invaded eastern Poland in 1941, Edzia’s older brother and father escaped to the Soviet Union. They did not believe that women and girls would be hurt in the war. Edzia’s mother Pearl was shot in the ghetto, and Edzia was taken to Stutthof concentration camp. In late April 1945, the Nazis forced the remaining Stutthof prisoners onto small boats for a treacherous journey along the Baltic coast. Many died, including 19-year-old Edzia, who drowned just days before liberation.