In the Footsteps of Ostrava Jews

Biographies of the Survivors

Judith Diamant, née Riffová, was born on 21 July 1932 in Moravská Ostrava.

She attended a Czech elementary school but had to leave it after the Nazi occupation. The only school she could attend for a short period of time was the Jewish school in Kostelní Street.

Before she was transported to the Terezín ghetto, she was hiding with her friends in Zlín. Her mother died of tuberculosis in Terezín. Fortunately, Judith was not deported from Terezín and stayed there until liberation.

After returning to Ostrava, she decided to move to her uncle in London, where she completed her secondary school studies. She started working in Nairobi, where she married Wolf Diamant. They lived in Milan for some time, later moving to Cape Town, South Africa.

The interview was filmed on 8 February 1996 in Claremont, South Africa.

Ervin Krumholz was born on 21 April 1924 in Moravská Ostrava.

He grew up as the only child. After completing the Jewish elementary school, he started to study at a high school which, however, he had to leave in 1940 and started apprenticeship training to become a car mechanic. Before the war, he was active in the Jewish organizations Maccabi Hatzair and Techelet-Lavan.

In September 1943, he and his mother were deported to the ghetto in Terezín, and in December of the same year they were both deported to the so-called Terezín family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Ervin managed to survive the liquidation of the family camp, and was selected for slave labor in the Blechhammer camp.

After the war, he returned to Ostrava, where, after several years of separation, he met his father who had been deported to Nisko and returned to Ostrava as a liberator. Ervin got married and emigrated to Israel with his wife Helena in February 1949. There he worked as a truck driver. In 1953, he and his family moved to Canada, where Ervin worked as a car mechanic.

The interview was filmed on 12 June 1996 in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.


ContinueBack to map

Terms and Privacy

© 2024 USC Shoah Foundation, All Rights Reserved