Anna D. Arbeiter September 1, 2024

ARBEITER, Anna (Balter)

Holocaust Survivor of Newton, died on September 1, 2024 at 98 years of age.  Devoted daughter of the late Mordechai and Faiga (Saltzman) Balter.  Beloved wife of the late Israel (Izzy) Arbeiter.  Loving mother of Harriet Fritz and her late husband Ron of Stoughton, Fran Rotman and her significant other Bob Zichler of Easton, Jack Arbeiter and his wife Hillary Saffer of Concord. Cherished grandmother of Jeffrey Fritz and his wife Robyn, Matthew Fritz and his wife Jenn, David Arbeiter and his wife Melanie Levine, Madison Roman and her husband Andrew.  Cherished great-grandmother of Ben, Emme, Rylan, Charlie, Hannah, and Connor.  Dear sister of the late Asher, Yitzchak, Manya, Miriam, Pesha, and Yankel.  Services will be held at Schlossberg Family’s Chapel on the Hill, 824 Washington Street, Canton, MA on Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 11:00 am, followed by interment at Sharon Memorial Park, 40 Dedham Street, Sharon, MA.  Shiva for the immediate family will be private.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to JFCS Schechter Holocaust Services, 1430 Main Street, Waltham, MA 02451.

Anna was born in December 1925 in Lodz, Poland; the fifth of seven children.  She was 13 years old when the Germans invaded Poland, and in early 1940 she and her family were deported to the Starachowice ghetto in central Poland where she was forced to work at the headquarters of the German Security Police preparing meals for the officers.  It was there that she met 15-year-old Izzy Arbeiter from Plock, Poland, who would become her husband after the war.  In October 1942 the Germans liquidated the Starachowice Ghetto, and Anna was imprisoned in the Julag 1 Slave Labor Camp near Starachowice, while the rest of her family was sent to the Treblinka Death Camp.

In Julag 1, Anna helped save Izzy’s life when he contracted typhus and was too sick to work.  She smuggled food, hot water, and soap from the camp kitchen and helped nurse Izzy back to health.  In July 1944 when the Red Army advanced into central Poland, the camp was liquidated and she was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.  She remained there until January 1945 when she was sent into Germany on a death march to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.  On April 15, 1945 she was liberated at Bergen-Belsen by the British Army.

In early summer 1945, Anna was living in a displaced-persons camp near Bergen-Belsen when she was surprised one morning by a visitor on a “borrowed” German motorcycle.  It was Izzy who had heard that Anna had survived and had traveled to Bergen-Belsen from southern Germany to thank her for saving his life.  Anna was living in a barracks with five other girls, and when Izzy asked her to go for a walk with him she said that she couldn’t because the six girls shared a single pair of shoes and today was not her day to wear the shoes.  Izzy bribed the other girls to let Anna have the shoes; and he was then able to convince Anna to come with him to Reusten, Germany where he was living. In August 1946 they were married in Reusten by an American Army chaplain, and in May 1949 they came to the United States on an American Army Troop Transport that had been converted to a refugee ship.

In the Boston area where she lived for the next 75 years, Anna’s greatest joy was her family, and her full-time profession was creating and maintaining a happy and nurturing home for them.  Her world-renowned schmaltz herring, potato latkes, brisket, and chicken soup were the envy of the culinary world; and nothing made her happier than mealtime visits from her grown children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that would conclude with everyone lugging massive food parcels home with them.

Anna died peacefully in her sleep after a short illness. The world today is a little sadder for her absence.