[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17131]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LIFE OF ESTHER JACHIMOWICZ

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                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2012

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
inspiring life of Esther Jachimowicz, who passed away in her San 
Francisco home on November 5, 2012.
   Born as Esther Bendzinski in Poland on October 11, 1925, she was the 
last remaining Holocaust survivor in her family. The tale of her life--
as she would recount to her family and friends--is one of tremendous 
loss, struggle, and incredible perseverance. Esther and her family were 
among those forced to live in the Lodz Ghetto by Nazi troops in German-
Occupied Poland. In recounting her story to the San Francisco 
Chronicle, she told of how life for the Jews trapped in the infamous 
ghetto was a daily struggle to survive starvation, beatings, and 
shootings.
   Esther and her family were among the thousands who were sent from 
the Lodz Ghetto to Auschwitz. There, she and her father were selected 
by the Nazis to be kept as slave labor--never to see her mother and 
younger sister again. From Auschwitz, her father was taken to Dachau, 
and Esther and another sister were sent to another concentration camp 
called Stutof. There she experienced unspeakable horrors, including the 
death of her sister.
   After being liberated, Esther searched for her family in the 
immediate aftermath of the war. Hearing that her father survived 
Dachau, she went to a hospital where he was being treated. It was there 
in that hospital where she also met her future husband, Nathan 
Jachimowicz, a few beds down from her father. The two had similar tales 
of survival, both being trapped in the Lodz Ghetto, both were taken to 
Auschwitz. Out of their combined families, only Nathan, Esther and her 
father had survived.
   Years later, during an interview, Esther would say she was lucky to 
find Nathan, to whom she would be married for fifty-eight years. Soon 
after they were wed, and along with Esther's father, they left Europe 
to start a new life in America. By 1962 they had settled in San 
Francisco and opened Emerald Cleaners and Tailoring shop on Noriega 
Street, near 25th Avenue. With hard work and an unyielding belief 
``that every day is a new day,'' they pursued the American Dream of a 
better life for themselves and their children.
   Mr. Speaker, the number of Holocaust survivors is rapidly dwindling, 
and we must not let their tales be forgotten, we must record their 
history for future generations to learn from. As it was said in the 
Hebrew Bible's Book of Joel: ``Tell your children about it, and let 
your children tell theirs, and their children the next generation.'' 
That is why I wanted to share Esther Jachimowicz's inspiring story.
   More than just the story of an individual, her story is that of a 
kind of person who lived through one of the darkest, most brutal 
chapters in the Twentieth Century, and held firm to the belief of a 
future without hate. Her family--and indeed our country--will forever 
remember and cherish that spirit of perseverance, survival, and hope in 
a better future. I join with our community in mourning her passing. 
While I know Esther's family feels her loss, I hope they can draw 
comfort through the pride they must feel in the heritage and legacy 
they inherit from this incredible woman.

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