Drawing of a memorial sculpture made to honor a Romanian Jewish boy who died in the ghetto

Dady Gorenstein was born on October 19, 1937, in Craiova, Romania, to Moritz and Laura (Lora) Brauman Gorenstein. He had one brother, Harry, born January 17, 1940, also in Craiova. Moritz was born on March 4, 1908, in Noua Sulita, Romania, to Marcus (Max) and Sima Gorenstein, and had a sister and brother. Laura was born on September 14, 1910, in Focsani, Romania, to David and Eva Goldenberg Brauman, and had two brothers. After Moritz and Laura were married, they moved to Cernauti (Chernivtsi, Ukraine) and Laura attended school to become a pharmacist. They moved to Craiova, where they had their children. Dady’s paternal grandparents and great aunt emigrated to the United States in the 1930’s, possibly 1937. On June 28, 1940, Romania was forced to cede parts of northern Romania to the Soviet Union. On November 20, 1940, Romania formally joined the Axis alliance. In June 1941, Romanian partook in the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Romania took back their lost territory and obtained new territory, Transnistria. The Romanian government under Antonescu was violently antisemitic and massacred 1000s of Jews throughout the country. In fall 1941, Romanian authorities began deporting Jews to Transnistria. In October 1941, Dady and his family were put in the Cernauti ghetto in northern Romania. In November, they were moved to the Mogilev-Podolski (Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine) ghetto, which was devastated by typhus, as well as severe food and fuel shortages. There was a German Army unit and an Organisation Todt (OT), the Nazi civil and military construction and engineering corps, stationed in the city. Moritz was taken as a forced laborer for the OT. In 1942, 5 year old Dady died of typhus in the ghetto. On March 20, 1944, Mogilev-Podolski was liberated by the Soviet Army. Moritz was released from his labor brigade in April 1944. Laura and Harry remained in Mogilev-Podolski until May 1944. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. The family returned to Craiova and had another son, Michael. In 1946, they left for Prague, and then Paris. In February 1949, they boarded the MS Sobieski and sailed to America. They settled in New York and had a daughter. Moritz Americanized his name to Morris. Morris, age 84, died on July 6, 1992. Laura, age 92, died on May 18, 2003. Harry, age 73, died on September 15, 2013.

The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Michael Gorenstein, the brother of Dady Gorenstein.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Michael Gorenstein

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.